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THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE. 

It  is  not  easy  to  say  which  part  of  this  book  is  best,  for  it  is  all 
good.  —  The  Nation. 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  one  of  the  ablest,  fairest,  and 
most  valuable  books  that  we  have  seen.  —  Southern  Historical 
Papers. 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  OUR  CIVIL   WAR 

Is  all  that  could  be  desired  :  gives  perhaps  a  clearer,  more  vivid  view, 
a  more  accurate  outline  than  any  other  available  record. — Lotidon 
Saturday  Review. 

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did  it.  —  Journal  Military  Service  Institution. 

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torical Papers. 

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armies  of  the  North  and  South.  —  A  rmy  and  Navy  Journal. 


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PATROCLUS  AND   PENELOPE 


cyf  Chat  in  the  Saddle 


THEODORE  AYRAULT  DODGE 

BREVET    LIEUTENANT-COLONEL   UNITED   STATES    ARMY,    RETIRED   LIST;    AUTHOR   OF 

"  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE,"  "  A  BIRD's-EYK  VIEW 

OF  OUR  CIVIL  WAR,"  BTC,  ETC. 


BOSTON 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

New  York:  11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

(Cfw  C!iberjSiOe  ^xtii,  <(ram6ritige 
i88s 


Copyright,  i88s. 
By  THEODORE  AYRAULT  DODGE. 


All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  and  Company. 


To 
THE  COUNTRY  CLUB  OF  BOSTON, 

WHICH  HAS  FOSTERED  A  TRUE  APPRSaATION 

OK    GOOD    HORSEMANSHIP    IN    OUR    CITY    OF    BEAUTIFUL   ENVIRONMENTS, 

AND    WHOSE    GENEROUS    AND    ABLE    ADMINISTRATION 

HAS  AFFORDED  THE  LOVERS  OF  THE  SADDLE 

SO    MANY    OCCASIONS    OF    RARE    ENTERTAINMENT, 

8Ef)ese  ^Pages  are  InsctibtS 

BY 

A  MEMBER. 


Since  —  as  it  has  been  our  fortune  to  be  long  engaged  about  horses  — 
we  consider  that  we  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of  horsemanship,  we 
desire  also  to  intimate  to  the  younger  part  of  our  friends  how  we  think 
that  thej>  may  bestow  their  attention  on  horses  to  the  best  advantage. 

Xenophon  on  Horsemanship,  I.  i. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  Patrocuis Frontispiece. 

2.  A  Quiet  Amble 12 

3.  The  Rack  or  Running  Walk 24 

4.  A  Sharp  Single-Foot 36 

5.  An  Easy  Canter 48 

6.  A  Ten-Mile  Trot 60 

7.  Rising  to  a  Hurdle 72 

8.  Flying  a  Hurdle 84 

9.  Clean  above  it 96 

10.  Taking  off  at  Water 108 

11.  Doing  it  Handily 120 

12.  A  Twenty-Foot  Jump 132 

13.  About  to  Land i44 

14.  Landing 156 


BEFORE    MOUNTING. 


But  a  few  months  since,  the  author,  whose 
thirty  odd  years  in  the  saddle  in  many  parts  of 
the  world  have,  he  trusts,  taught  him  that  mod- 
esty which  should  always  be  bred  of  usage,  was 
showing  some  of  the  instantaneous  photographs 
of  his  horse  Patroclus  to  a  group  of  Club  men. 
Most  of  the  gentlemen  were  old  friends,  but  one 
of  the  photographs  having  been  passed  to  a  by- 
stander, whose  attire  marked  him  as  belonging  to 
the  most  recently  developed  Boston  type  of  horse- 
men, elicited,  much  to  his  listeners'  entertain- 
ment, the  remark  that  "  naw  man  can  wide  in  a 
saddle  like  that,  ye  know,  not  weally  wide,  ye 
know !  naw  fawin,  ye  know !  would  n't  be  tole- 
wated  in  our  school,  ye  know !  "  The  author  was 
informed  by  a  mutual  acquaintance  that  the  gen- 
tleman was  taking  a  course  of  lessons  at  the 
swellest  riding  academy  of  the  city,  and  had  re- 
cently imported  an  English  gelding.  In  defer- 
ence to  such  excellent  authority,  whose  not  un- 
kindly   meant,   if    somewhat    brusquely    uttered, 


lo  "  Faw^nr 

criticism  may  be  said  to  have  inspired  these 
pages,  otherwise  perhaps  without  a  suitable  motif, 
an  explanation  appears  to  be  called  for,  lest  by 
some  other  youthful  equestrian  critics  the  physi- 
cian be  advised  to  heal  himself. 

The  exclusive  use  of  the  English  hunting-rig 
and  crop  for  all  kinds  and  conditions  of  men  at 
all  times  and  in  all  places  is  well  understood  by 
old  horsemen  to  be  but  a  matter  of  fashion  which 
time  may  displace  in  favor  of  some  other  novelty. 
For  their  proper  purpose  they  are  undeniably  the 
best.  But  to  the  newly  fledged  equestrian  who 
makes  them  his  shibboleth,  and  who  discards  as 
"  bad  form "  any  variation  upon  the  road  from 
what  is  eminently  in  place  after  hounds,  the  au- 
thor, with  an  admiration  for  the  excellencies  of 
the  English  seat  derived  from  half  a  dozen  years' 
residence  in  the  Old  Country  and  many  a  sharp 
run  in  the  flying-counties,  and  with  the  conscious- 
ness that,  if  tried  in  the  balance  of  to-day's  An- 
glomania, his  own  seat,  as  shown  in  some  of  the 
illustrations,  may  chance  to  be  found  wanting,  de- 
sires to  explain  that,  during  the  Civil  War,  out- 
rageous fortune,  among  other  slings  and  arrows, 
sent  him  to  the  rear  with  the  loss  of  a  leg;  but 
that  far  from  giving  up  a  habit  thus  become  all 
the  more  essential  because  he  could  no  longer 
safely  sit  a  flat  saddle,  he  concluded  to  supple- 
ment his  lack  of  grip  (as  the  Marquis  of  Angle- 


The  Universal  Saddle.  1 1 

sea  for  a  similar  reason  had  done  before  him)  by 
the  artificial  support  which  is  afforded  in  the  rolls 
and  pads  of  a  somerset  or  demi-pique,  as  well  as 
to  adopt  the  seat  best  suited  to  his  disability. 
And  it  was  such  a  saddle,  of  a  pattern  perhaps  too 
pronounced  to  suit  even  the  author's  eye,  however 
comfortable  and  safe,  —  particularly  so  in  leaping, 
which  provoked  the  censure,  perhaps  quite  justi- 
fiable according  to  the  light  of  the  critic,  which 
has  been  quoted  above.  This  variation,  however, 
by  no  means  conflicts  with  the  author's  belief  in, 
and  constant  advocacy  of,  the  flat  English  saddle 
in  its  place.  But  he  has  seen  so  many  accom- 
plished riders  in  quite  different  saddles,  that  he 
became  long  ago  convinced  that  the  English  tree 
by  no  means  affords  the  only  perfect  seat.  In 
fact,  the  saddle  best  suited  to  universal  use,  that 
is,  the  one  which  might  best  serve  a  man  under 
any  conditions,  approaches,  in  his  opinion,  more 
nearly  the  modified  military  saddle  of  to-day  than 
the  hunting  type. 

Nor  because  a  local  fashion,  set  but  yesterday, 
prescribes  strict  adherence  to  a  style  he  cannot 
follow,  is  the  author  less  ready  to  venture  upon 
giving  a  friendly  word  of  advice  to  many  of  our 
young  and  aspiring  riders.  There  are  not  a  few 
gentlemen  in  Boston,  whose  months  in  the  sad- 
dle number  far  less  than  the  author's  years,  to 
whose  courage  and  discretion  as   horsemen   he 


12  Superficial  Equitation. 

yields  his  very  honest  admiration,  and  whose 
stanch  hunters  he  is  happy  to  follow  across  coun- 
try, nor  ashamed  if  he  finds  he  has  lost  them  from 
sight.  He  regrets  to  say  that  he  has  also  seen 
not  a  few  who  affect  to  sneer  at  a  padded  saddle 
or  a  horse  with  a  long  tail,  who  seem  incapable 
of  throwing  their  heart  across  a  thirty  inch  stone 
wall  in  a  burst  after  hounds,  although  upon  the 
road  they  seek  to  impress  one  as  constantly  rid- 
ing to  cover. 

It  is  unnecessary,  however,  to  say  that  the  au- 
thor has  too  long  been  a  lover  of  equestrianism 
per  se  not  to  admire  the  good  and  be  tolerant  of 
the  bad  for  the  total  sum  of  gain  which  the  horse- 
back mania  of  to-day  affords.  He  is  old  enough 
to  remember  that  human  nature  remains  the 
same,  however  fast  the  world  may  move,  and  is 
firm  in  the  belief  that  we  shall  soon  grow  to  be  a 
nation  of  excellent  horsemen. 

There  is  no  pretense  to  make  these  pages  a 
new  manual  for  horse-training  or  for  riding. 
There  are  plenty  of  good  books  on  horseman- 
ship now  in  print;  but  unfortunately  there  are 
few  riders  who  care  for  anything  beyond  a  super- 
ficial education  of  either  their  horses  or  them- 
selves. More  than  rudimentary  —  if  viewed  in 
the  light  of  the  High  School  —  the  hints  in  this 
volume  can  scarcely  be  considered.  If  any  in- 
centive to  the  study  of  the  real  art  and  to  the 


s 

< 

t— I 


The  Illustrations.  13 

better  training  of  saddle  beasts  is  given,  all  that 
these  pages  deserve  will  have  been  gained. 

The  plates  are  phototype  reproductions  from 
photographs  of  Patroclus,  taken  in  action  by 
Baldwin  Coolidge.  Their  origin  lay  in  the  belief 
that  a  fine-gaited  horse  could  be  instantaneously 
photographed,  and  still  show  the  agreeable  ac- 
tion which  all  horse-lovers  admire,  and  have  been 
habituated  to  see  drawn  by  artists,  instead  of 
the  ungainly  positions  usually  resulting  from  the 
instantaneous  process.  The  object  aimed  at  —  to 
show  an  anatomically  correct  and  artistically  ac- 
ceptable horse  in  each  case  —  has,  it  is  thought, 
been  gained,  so  far,  at  least,  as  motion  arrested 
can  ever  give  the  idea  of  motion. 

Out  of  thirty  photographs  taken,  the  fourteen 
herein  given,  and  one  or  two  others,  much  resem- 
bling some  of  these,  showed  an  agreeable  action. 
The  best  positions  of  the  horse  were  often  the 
poorest  photographs.  In  enlarging  them  by  solar 
prints  for  the  phototype  process,  the  shadows  of 
the  horse  have  been  darkened,  or  in  some  in- 
stances, where  a  negative  has  been  blurred  or 
injured,  an  indistinct  line  has  been  strengthened. 
In  some  plates  the  photograph  was  so  clear  (as 
Plates  IV.  and  V.)  that  no  darkening  of  the  shad- 
ows was  necessary.  In  others  (as  Plates  VII.  and 
VIII.)  the  negative,  though  showing  excellent 
position,  was  so  weak  as  to  require  a  good  deal  of 


14  The  Water-Jump. 

treatment.  But  in  even  the  most  indistinct  ones 
the  outhne  and  crude  shadows  were  clearly  shown 
by  the  negatives,  and  followed  absolutely  in  treat- 
ing the  solar  prints.  The  plates  are  thus  ob- 
tained intact  from  the  original  instantaneous  neg- 
atives, and  faithfully  represent  the  action  and 
spirit  of  the  horse.  The  jumping  pictures  were 
taken  against  the  natural  background,  the  others 
against  a  screen  or  building.  In  the  latter,  the 
entire  background  has  been  made  white,  for 
greater  distinctness.  The  water-jump  was  in  re- 
ality a  dry  ditch  of  eleven  feet  wide  from  bar  to 
bank.  But  being  hidden  in  the  original  nega- 
tives by  the  heaps  of  earth  thrown  up  in  digging 
it,  and  several  of  the  negatives  being  blurred  in 
the  foreground,  the  water  was  added  in  the  solar 
prints.  To  preserve  anatomical  accuracy,  the 
finer  results  of  both  photography  and  of  the  pho- 
totype process  have  had  to  be  sacrificed. 

To  state  that  the  author  has  often  witnessed 
the  prize  leaping  at  the  Agricultural  Hall  Horse 
Show  in  London,  as  well  as  watched  the  contest 
of  many  a  noted  English  steeple-chase,  will  ab- 
solve him  from  any  suspicion  of  parading  these 
photographs  as  examples  of  excellent  perform- 
ance. They  were  all  taken  in  cold  blood  on  one 
occasion,  and  Patroclus  was  ridden  alone  over  the 
obstacles  at  least  a  dozen  times  for  each  good  pic- 
ture secured.     Every  horseman  knows  that  this 


The  Hurdles.  15 

is  a  pretty  sound  test  of  a  willing  jumper,  if  not 
a  crack  one.  Moreover,  the  author  has  been  ac- 
quainted with  too  many  masters  of  equitation,  at 
home  as  well  as  abroad,  to  harbor  any  but  a  very 
modest  opinion  of  his  own  equestrian  ability.  He 
would  be  much  more  sensitive  to  criticism  of 
Patroclus  than  of  himself,  for  he  knows  the  horse 
to  be  an  exceptionally  good  one  within  his  limita- 
tions, while  always  conscious  that  his  own  seat 
lacks  the  firmness  of  ante-bellum  days.  It  used 
to  be  said  in  the  Old  Country  that  an  English- 
man keeps  his  seat  to  manage  his  horse,  and  that 
a  Frenchman  manages  his  horse  to  keep  his  seat. 
The  author  is  obliged  to  confess  that  to-day  he  is 
often  reduced  to  the  latter  practice. 

The  hurdles  were  somewhat  over  four  feet 
high ;  behind  each  was  a  bar  just  four  feet  from 
the  ground.  The  water-jumps  were  from  fifteen 
to  eighteen  feet  from  taking-off  to  landing.  On 
a  number  of  occasions  (as  in  Plate  XII.)  Patro- 
clus covered  over  twenty  measured  feet  in  this 
jump. 

As  is  manifest  from  a  few  of  the  plates,  it  was 
the  action  of  the  horse,  and  not  the  "  form  "  of 
the  rider,  which  it  was  aimed  to  secure.  It  is  easy 
to  make  engravings  in  which  the  seat  of  the  rider 
shall  be  perfect ;  but  in  all  the  wood-cut  illustra- 
tions of  books  on  equitation  the  horse  is  usually 
anatomically  incorrect,  however   artistically  sug- 


1 6  Tom  and  Penelope. 

gestive.  One  never  sees  the  photograph  of  a 
horse  clearing  an  obstacle  in  which  the  rider's 
form  is  as  perfect  as  it  is  apt  to  be  depicted  in  en- 
gravings or  paintings.  And  in  some  of  the  within 
illustrations  of  road  gaits  there  is  apparent  a  care- 
lessness in  both  seat  and  reins  which  would 
scarcely  do  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  high 
airs  of  the  manage,  but  into  which  a  rider  is  some- 
times apt  unconsciously  to  lapse.  No  one  is  prob- 
ably better  aware  of  what  is  good  and  bad  alike 
in  these  plates  than  the  author  himself.  He  ap- 
preciates "  form  "  at  its  exact  value,  but  is  con- 
strained to  believe  that  the  true  article  comes 
from  sources  far  removed  from,  and  of  vastly 
more  solid  worth  than  the  pigskin  which  covers 
a  rider's  saddle,  or  the  shears  which  bang  his 
horse's  tail.  The  searching  power  of  photogra- 
phy, however,  is  no  respecter  of  form  or  person. 

A  word  of  thanks  should  not  be  omitted  to 
Mr.  Coolidge,  whose  excellent  judgment  and  keen 
eye  in  taking  these  pictures,  without  other  appa- 
ratus than  his  lens,  is  well  shown  by  the  result, 
nor  to  the  Lewis  Engraving  Company  for  their 
careful  reproductions  from  material  by  no  means 
perfect. 

Perhaps  it  should  be  said  that  Master  Tom  and 
Penelope,  who  figure  in  these  pages,  are  as  really 
in  the  flesh  as  Patroclus,  and  by  no  means  mere 
fictions  of  the  imagination. 


Purpose  of  Plates.  1 7 

There  is  no  instruction  pretended  to  be  con- 
veyed by  these  plates,  as  there  is  in  the  similarly 
obtained  illustrations  of  Anderson's  excellent 
"  Modern  Horsemanship."  Their  purpose  is  less 
to  point  a  moral  than  to  adorn  a  tale.  But  an 
apology  to  all  is  perhaps  due  for  the  very  chatty 
manner  in  which  the  author  has  taken  his  friend, 
the  reader,  into  his  confidence,  and  to  experi- 
enced horsemen  for  the  very  elementary  hints 
sometimes  given.  The  pages  devoted  to  Penel- 
ope are  meant  for  young  riders  who,  like  Master 
Tom,  really  want  to  learn. 

THEODORE  AYRAULT  DODGE. 

Brookline,  Mass.,  April,  1885. 


PATROCLUS  AND  PENELOPE. 

A   CHAT  IN   THE   SADDLE. 


I. 

We  are  fast  friends,  Patroclus,  and  many  's  the 
hour  since,  five  years  ago,  I  bought  you,  an  im- 
petuous but  good-tempered  and  intelligent  three- 
year-old  colt,  whom  every  one  thought  too  flighty 
to  be  of  much  account,  that  you  and  I  have  spent 
in  each  other's  company  upon  the  pretty  subur- 
ban roads  of  Boston.  And  many  's  the  scamper 
and  frolic  that  we  Ve  had  across  the  fields,  and 
many 's  the  quiet  stroll  through  the  shady  woods ! 
For  you  and  I,  Patroclus,  can  go  where  it  takes  a 
goodish  horse  to  follow  in  our  wake.  I  wonder, 
as  I  look  into  your  broad  and  handsome  face, 
whether  you  know  and  love  me  as  well  as  I  do 
you.  Indeed,  when  you  whinny  at  my  distant 
step,  or  rub  your  inquisitive  old  nose  against  my 
hands  or  towards  my  pocket,  begging  for  another 
handful  of  oats  or  for  a  taste  of  salt  or  sugar ; 
or  when  you  confidingly  lower  your  head  to  have 
me  rub  your  ears,  with  so  much  restful  intelli- 


20  His  Own  Pedigree. 

gence  beaming  from  your  soft,  brown  eyes,  and 
such  evident  liking  for  my  company,  I  think  you 
know  how  warm  my  heart  beats  for  you.  And 
how  generous  the  blood  which  courses  through 
your  own  tense  veins  your  master  knows  full 
well.  If  I  had  to  flee  for  my  life,  Patroclus,  I 
should  wish  that  your  mighty  back,  tough  thews, 
and  noble  courage  could  bear  me  through  the 
struggle.  For  I  never  called  upon  you  yet,  but 
what  there  came  the  response  which  only  the  tru- 
est of  your  race  can  give. 

No,  Pat !  you  've  got  all  the  sugar  you  can 
have  to-day.  My  pockets  are  not  a  grocer's  shop. 
Stand  quiet  while  I  mount,  and  you  and  I  will 
take  our  usual  stroll. 

Patroclus  is  said  to  have  been  sired  in  the  Old 
Country  out  of  a  cavalry  mare  brought  over  by  an 
English  officer  to  Quebec,  and  there  foaled  in 
Her  Majesty's  service.  Even  this  much  I  had  on 
hearsay.  But  he  has  the  instincts  of  the  charger 
in  every  fibre,  —  and  perhaps  the  most  intelligent 
and  best  saddle  beasts  among  civilized  nations 
belong  to  mounted  troops.  As  old  Hiram  Wood- 
ruff used  to  say,  Patroclus  makes  his  own  pedi- 
gree. I  know  what  he  is  ;  I  care  not  whence  he 
came. 

No  need  to  extol  your  points.  Though  there 
be  those  of  higher  lineage,  and  many  a  speedier 


His  Points.  2 1 

horse  upon  the  turf,  or  perchance  a  grander  per- 
former after  hounds,  thrice  your  value  to  whoso 
will  find  fault  or  blemish  upon  you,  my  Patro- 
clus!  You  are  blood-bay  and  glossy  as  a  satin 
kerchief.  You  are  near  sixteen  hands ;  short 
coupled  enough  to  carry  weight,  and  long  enough 
below  to  take  an  ample  stride.  You  tread  as 
light  as  a  steel  watch-spring  quivers.  A  woman's 
face  has  rarely  a  sweeter  or  more  trusting  look 
than  yours  in  repose  ;  a  falcon's  eye  is  no  keener 
when  aroused.  You  will  follow  me  like  a  dog, 
and  your  little  mistresses  can  fondle  you  in  stall 
or  paddock.  You  have  all  the  life  and  endurance 
of  the  thoroughbred,  the  intelligence  of  the  Arab, 
the  perfect  manners  of  the  park,  and  the  power 
and  discretion  of  a  Midland  Counties  hunter. 
Like  the  old  song,  you  have 

"  A  head  like  a  snake,  and  a  skin  like  a  mouse, 

An  eye  like  a  woman,  bright,  gentle,  and  brown  ; 
With  loins  and  a  back  that  would  carry  a  house, 
And  quarters  to  lift  you  smack  over  a  town." 

May  it  be  many  a  year  yet,  Patroclus,  before  I 
must  pension  you  off  for  good  ! 

You  stand  for  me  to  mount  as  steady  as  a  rock. 
And  you  know  your  crippled  master's  needs  so 
well  that  you  would  do  it  in  the  whirl  of  a  stam- 
pede.    I  will  leave  the  reins  upon  your  neck  and 


22  Equestrian  Delusions. 

let  you  walk  whither  your  own  fancy  dictates,  for 
I  am  lazily  inclined ;  though  indeed  I  know  from 
your  tossing  head  that  you  fain  would  go  a  live- 
lier gait.  So  long  as  you  can  walk  your  four  full 
miles  an  hour,  you  will  have  to  curb  your  ardor 
for  many  a  long  stretch,  while  your  master  chews 
the  cud  of  sweet  and  bitter  fancies. 

As  we  saunter  along,  the  reflections  bred  of 
thirty  odd  years  in  the  saddle  come  crowding  up. 
From  a  Shelty  with  a  scratch-pack  in  Surrey  a 
generation  since,  to  many  a  cavalry  charge  with 
bugle-clash  and  thundering  tread  on  Old  Domin- 
ion soil  now  twenty  years  ago,  the  daily  life  with 
that  best  of  friends,  —  save  always  one,  —  the  per- 
fect saddle  horse,  brings  many  thoughts  to  mind. 
What  if  we  jot  them  down  ? 

II. 

The  most  common  delusion  under  which  the 
average  equestrian  is  apt  to  labor  in  every  part  of 
the  world  is  that  his  own  style  of  riding  is  the 
one  par  excellence.  Whether  the  steeple  chaser 
on  his  thoroughbred,  or  the  Indian  on  his  mus- 
tang is  the  better  rider,  cannot  well  be  decided. 
The  peculiar  horsemanship  of  every  country  has 
its  manifest  advantages,  and  is  the  natural  out- 
growth of,  as  well  as  peculiarly  adapted  to,  the 
climate,  roads,  and  uses  to  which  the  horse  is  put. 


"  Tongs  on  a  Wall''  23 

The  cowboy  who  can  defy  the  bucking  broncho 
will  be  unseated  by  a  two-year-old  which  any 
racing-stable  boy  can  stick  to,  while  this  same 
boy  would  hardly  sit  the  third  stiff  boost  of  the 
ragged,  grass-fed  pony.  The  best  horseman  of 
the  desert  would  be  nowhere  in  the  hunting  field. 
The  cavalryman  who,  with  a  few  of  his  fellows, 
can  carve  his  way  through  a  column  of  infantry, 
may  not  be  able  to  compete  at  polo  with  a  New- 
port swell.  The  jockey  who  will  ride  over  five 
and  a  half  feet  of  timber  or  twenty  feet  of  water 
would  make  sorry  work  in  pulling  down  a  lassoed 
steer.  Each  one  in  his  element  is  by  far  the  su- 
perior of  the  other,  but  none  of  these  is  just  the 
type  of  horseman  whom  the  denizen  of  our  busy 
cities,  for  his  daily  enjoyment,  cares  to  make  his 
pattern. 

The  original  barbarian,  no  doubt,  clasped  his 
undersized  mount  with  all  the  legs  he  had,  as 
every  natural  rider  does  to-day.  When  saddle 
and  stirrups  came  into  use,  followed  anon  by 
spurs,  discretion  soon  taught  the  grip  with  knee 
and  thigh  alone,  the  heels  being  kept  for  other 
purposes  than  support.  It  must,  however,  be  set 
down  to  the  credit  of  the  original  barbarian  that 
he  probably  did  not  ride  in  the  style  known  as 
"  tongs  on  a  wall."  This  certainly  not  admirable 
seat  originated  with  the  knight  in  heavy  armor, 
and  has  since  been  adhered  to  by  many  nations, 


24  Long  or  Short  Seat. 

and,  through  the  Spaniards,  has  found  its  way  to 
every  part  of  the  Americas.  But  as  a  rule,  wild 
riders  have  the  bent  knee  which  gives  the  firmest 
bareback  seat.  The  long  stirrup  and  high ,  can- 
tie  must  not  be  condemned  for  certain  purposes. 
When  not  carried  to  the  furthest  extreme  they 
have  decided  advantages.  It  is  by  no  means  sure 
that  any  other  seat  would  be  equally  easy  on  the 
cantering  mustang  for  so  many  scores  of  miles  a 
day  as  many  men  on  the  plains  customarily  cover. 
And  though  for  our  city  purposes  and  mounts  it 
is  distinctly  unavailable,  one  must  be  cautious  in 
depreciating  a  seat  which  is  clung  to  so  tena- 
ciously by  so  many  splendid  riders.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  the  Southerners  and  Mexi- 
cans, as  well  as  soldiers,  all  ride  with  straight  leg. 
While  you  often  see  this  fault  carried  to  an  ex- 
treme among  all  these,  the  best  horsemen  I  have 
generally  observed  riding  with  a  naturally  bent 
knee.  And  it  takes  a  great  deal  to  convince  a 
good  rider  of  any  of  these  classes  that  a  man 
who  will  lean  and  rise  to  a  trot  knows  the  ABC 
of  equestrianism. 

Whether  the  first  saddle  had  a  short  seat  and 
long  stirrups,  a  la  militaire,  or  a  long  seat  with 
short  ones,  a  VAiiglaise,  matters  little.  Though 
the  original  home  of  the  horse  boasts  to-day  the 
shortest  of  stirrups  (and  even  in  Xenophon's  time 
this  appears  to  have  been  the  Asiatic  habit),  a 


Origin  of  Short  Stirrups.  25 

reasonably  long  one  would  seem  to  have  been  the 
most  natural  first  step  from  the  bareback  seat. 
If  so,  what  is  it  that  has  gradually  lengthened  the 
seat  of  the  Englishman,  who  represents  for  us  to- 
day the  favorite  type  of  civilized  horsemanship, 
and  if  not  the  best,  perhaps  nearest  that  which  is 
best  suited  to  our  Eastern  wants  ? 

No  doubt,  in  early  days,  horses  were  mainly 
ridden  on  a  canter  or  a  gallop.  If  perchance  a 
trot,  it  was  a  mere  shog,  comfortable  enough  with 
a  short  seat  and  high  cantle.  The  early  horse 
was  a  short-gaited  creature.  But  two  things  came 
gradually  about.  Dirt  roads  grew  into  turnpikes ; 
and  the  pony-gaited  nag  began,  about  the  days  of 
the  Byerly  Turk,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago, 
to  develop  into  the  long-striding  thoroughbred. 
The  paved  pike  speedily  proved  that  a  canter 
sooner  injures  the  fetlock  joints  of  the  forelegs 
and  strains  the  sinews  of  the  hind  than  a  trot, 
and  men  merciful  unto  their  beasts  or  careful  of 
their  pockets  began  to  ride  the  latter  gait.  But 
when  the  step  in  the  trot  became  longer  and 
speedier  as  the  saddle  horse  became  better  bred, 
riders  were  not  long  in  finding  out  that  to  rise  in 
the  stirrups  was  easier  for  both  man  and  beast, 
and  as  shorter  stirrups  materially  aid  the  rise, 
the  seat  began  to  grow  in  length.  It  has  been 
proved  satisfactorily  to  the  French,  who  have  al- 
ways been  "  close  "  riders,  that  to  rise  in  the  trot 


26  Rising  to  a  Trot, 

saves  the  horse  to  a  very  great  percentage,  put 
by  some  good  authorities  at  as  high  a  figure  as 
one  sixth.  Moreover,  it  was  not  a  strange  step 
forward.  That  it  is  natural  to  rise  in  the  trot  is 
shown  by  there  being  to-day  many  savage  or  semi- 
civilized  tribes  which  practice  the  habit  in  entire 
unconsciousness  of  its  utility  being  a  disputed 
point  anywhere. 

Another  reason  for  shortening  the  leathers  no 
doubt  prevailed.  The  English  found  the  most 
secure  seat  for  vigorous  leaping  to  be  the  long 
one.  Of  course  a  little  obstacle  can  be  cleared  in 
any  saddle  ;  but  with  the  long  seat,  the  violent  ex- 
ertion of  the  horse  in  a  high  jump  does  not  loosen 
the  grip  with  knees  and  calves,  but  at  most  only 
throws  one's  buckskin  from  the  saddle,  as  indeed 
it  should  not  even  do  that.  For  the  knees  being 
well  in  front  of,  instead  of  hanging  below,  the  seat 
of  honor,  enables  a  man  to  lean  back  and  sustain 
the  jar  of  landing  without  parting  company  with 
his  mount,  while  a  big  jump  with  stirrups  too 
long,  if  it  unseats  you  at  all,  loosens  your  entire 
grip,  or  may  throw  you  against  the  pommel  in  a 
highly  dangerous  manner. 

Moreover,  with  short  stirrups,  the  horse  is  able 
on  occasion  to  run  and  jump  "  well  away  from 
under  you,"  while,  except  during  the  leap  it- 
self, the  weight  for  considerable  distances  may 
be  sustained  by  the  stirrups  alone,  and  thus  be 


Change  of  Seat.  27 

better  distributed  for  the  horse  over  ground  where 
the  footing  is  unsteady,  as  it  is  in  ridge  and  fur- 
row. 

No  better  illustration  of  the  uses  of  these  sev- 
eral seats  than  an  English  cavalry  officer.  On  pa- 
rade he  will  ride  with  the  longest  of  stirrups  com- 
patible with  not  sitting  on  his  crotch.  To  rise  in 
the  saddle  is  a  forbidden  luxury  to  the  soldier. 
Despite  some  recent  experiments  in  foreign  ser- 
vice, and  the  fact  that  on  the  march  the  cavalry- 
man may  be  permitted  to  rise,  nay,  encouraged  to 
do  so,  what  more  ridiculous  than  a  troop  of  cav- 
alry on  parade,  each  man  bobbing  up  and  down 
at  his  own  sweet  will }  The  horse  suitable  for  a 
trooper  is  a  short,  quick-gaited,  handy  animal, 
chosen  largely  for  this  quality,  and  made  still 
more  so  by  being  taught  to  work  in  a  collected 
manner  by  the  manege.  You  can  very  comfort- 
ably sit  him  with  a  military  saddle  at  a  pretty 
sharp  parade  trot.  Now,  suppose  our  cavalry  offi- 
cer is  going  for  a  canter  in  Rotten  Row,  —  he 
will  at  once  shorten  his  stirrup-leathers  a  couple 
of  holes ;  and  if  he  were  going  to  ride  cross  coun- 
try, he  would  shorten  them  still  a  couple  more. 
Experience  has  taught  him  the  peculiar  uses  of 
each  position. 

Some  writers  claim  that  one  seat  ought  to  suf- 
fice for  all  occasions.  And  so  it  can  be  made  to 
do.     This  one  seat  may,  however,  not  always  be 


28  A   Tenderfoot. 

the  best  adapted  to  the  work  immediately  in 
hand,  or  to  the  animal  ridden.  A  slight  change 
is  often  a  gain.  Every  one  has  noticed  that  dif- 
ferent horses,  as  well  as  different  ground  ridden 
over,  vary  the  rider's  seat  in  the  same  saddle. 

But  excellent  as  is  the  long  hunting  seat  in  its 
place,  one  can  conceive  no  more  ridiculous  sight 
than  the  English  swell  I  once  saw  in  Colorado, 
who  had  brought  his  own  pigskin  with  him,  and 
started  out  for  a  ten  days'  ride  across  the  prairie 
on  an  Indian  pony,  the  only  available  mount. 
The  pony's  short  gait  was  admirable  for  a  long 
day's  jaunt  in  a  peaked  saddle,  but  so  little  suited 
to  a  cross-country  rig,  that  the  swell's  condition 
at  the  end  of  the  first  fifty  miles  must  have  been 
pitiable.  This  unusual  "  tenderfoot  "  exhibition 
elicited  a  deal  of  very  natural  laughter,  and  its 
butt,  who  was  an  excellent  but  narrow-minded 
horseman,  though  he  stuck  with  square-toed  Brit- 
ish pluck  to  his  rig  for  a  few  days,  came  back  to 
Denver  equipped  a  la  cowboy.  His  Piccadilly 
saddle  had  been  abandoned  to  the  prairie-dogs. 

III. 

Patroclus  watches  his  rider's  mood.  He  has 
become  contemplative  too,  and  has  taken  kindly 
to  our  sober  pace.  But  you  shall  have  your  turn, 
my  glossy  pet.  Let  us  get  off  this  macadamized 
road  where  we  can  find  some  cantering-ground. 


The  Running    Walk.  29 

As  I  shorten  the  reins,  't  is  indeed  a  pleasure  to 
see  your  head  come  up,  neck  arched,  eye  bright- 
ening, alternate  ears  moving  back  to  catch  your 
master's  word,  feet  at  once  gathered  under  you, 
and  nerves  and  muscles  on  keenest  tension. 
Every  motion  is  springy,  elastic,  bold,  and  free, 
as  full  of  power  as  it  is  of  ease.  No  wonder,  Pa- 
troclus,  that  eyes  so  often  turn  to  watch  you.  No 
wonder  that  you  seem  conscious  that  they  do. 
For  though  we  both  know  that  the  first  test  of 
the  horse  is  performance,  yet  having  that,  there  is 
pleasure  to  us  both  in  your  graceful  gaits. 

To  give  the  reins  the  least  possible  shake  will 
send  you  into  the  most  ecstatic  of  running  walks, 
as  fast  as  one  needs  to  go,  and  so  easy  that  it  is 
a  constant  wonder  how  you  do  it.  This  is  no 
common  amble  or  bumping  pace,  but  the  true 
four  beat  rack.  And  as  you  toss  your  head  and 
champ  your  bit,  Patroclus,  with  the  pleasure  of 
your  accelerated  motion,  how  well  you  seem  to 
know  the  comfort  of  your  rider. 

IV. 

This  running  walk  or  rack,  by  the  way,  is  one 
of  the  most  delightful  of  gaits.  Its  universal 
adoption  in  the  South  by  every  one  who  can  buy 
a  racker  is  due  to  the  roads,  which,  for  many 
months  of  the  year,  are  so  utterly  impassable  that 
you  have  to  pick  your  way  in  and  out  of  the 


30  The  Racker. 

woods  and  fields  on  either  side,  and  rarely  meet  a 
stretch  where  you  can  start  into  a  swinging  trot. 
But  a  horse  will  fall  from  a  walk  into  a  rack,  or 
vice  versa^  with  the  greatest  of  ease  to  himself 
and  rider,  and  if  the  stretch  is  but  a  hundred 
yards  will  gain  some  distance  in  that  short  bit  of 
ground.  If  you  have  a  fifty  mile  ride  over  good 
roads  in  comfortable  weather,  perhaps  a  smart 
trot,  if  easy,  of  course  alternating  with  the  walk, 
is  as  good  a  single  gait  as  you  can  ride.  But  you 
need  to  trot  or  canter  a  goodly  stretch,  not  to 
shorten  rein  at  every  dozen  rods,  for  the  transi- 
tion from  a  walk  to  either  of  these  gaits  or  back 
again,  though  slight,  is  still  an  exertion;  while 
from  the  walk  to  the  rack  and  back  the  change  is 
so  imperceptible  that  one  is  made  conscious  of 
it  only  by  the  patter  of  the  horse's  feet.  Here 
again,  the  country's  need,  roads,  and  climate  have 
bred  a  most  acceptable  gait.  But  it  has  made 
the  Southerner  forget  what  an  inspiriting  thing  a 
swinging  twelve  mile  trot  can  be  along  a  smooth 
and  pretty  road ;  and  you  cannot  give  away  a 
trotting  horse  for  use  in  the  saddle  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon.  The  rack  soon  grows  into 
the  single-foot,  which  only  differs  from  it  in  be- 
ing faster,  and  the  latter  is  substituted  for  the 
trot.  To  go  a  six  or  eight  mile  gait,  holding  a 
full  glass  of  water  in  the  hand,  and  not  to  spill  a 
drop,  is  the  test  of  perfection  in  the  racker.    And 


WhcLt  is   a   Rack  ?  31 

for  a  lazy  feeling  day,  or  for  hot  weather,  any- 
where, it  is  the  acme  of  comfort.  Or  it  is,  indeed, 
a  useful  gait  in  winter,  when  it  is  too  cold  for  a 
clipped  horse  to  walk  and  your  nag  has  yet  not 
stretched  his  legs  enough  to  want  to  go  at  sharper 
speed.  It  must,  however,  be  acknowledged  that 
it  is  very  rare  that  a  horse  will  rack  perfectly  as 
well  as  trot.     He  is  apt  to  get  the  gaits  mixed. 

A  rack  is  half  way  between  a  pace  and  a  trot. 
In  the  pace,  the  two  feet  of  each  side  move  and 
come  down  together;  in  the  trot,  the  two  alter- 
nate feet  do  so.  In  the  running  walk,  or  in  the 
single-foot,  each  hind  foot  follows  its  leader  at  the 
half  interval,  no  two  feet  coming  to  the  ground 
together,  but  in  regular  succession,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce just  twice  as  many  foot-falls  as  a  trot  or  a 
pace.  Hence  the  one,  two,  three,  four,  patter  of 
the  horse  gives  to  the  ear  the  impression  of  very 
great  rapidity,  when  really  moving  at  only  half 
the  apparent  speed.  The  result  of  the  step  is  a 
swaying,  easy  back,  which  you  can  sit  with  as 
much  ease  as  a  walk.  Rackers  will  go  a  six  mile 
gait,  single-footers  much  faster.  I  once  owned  a 
single-footing  mare,  who  came  from  Alexander's 
farm  and  was  sired  by  Norman,  who  could  single- 
foot  a  full  mile  in  three  minutes.  As  a  rule,  the 
speed  is  not  much  more  than  half  that  rate.  And 
either  a  rack  or  single-foot  is  apt  to  spoil  the 
square  trot ;  or  if  you  break  a  horse  to  trot,  you 


32  Patroclus'   Trot, 

will  lose  the  other  gaits.    A  perfect  all-day  racker 
or  a  speedy  single-footer  can  scarcely  be  aught 

else. 

V. 

I  did  not  mean  to  apply  that  rule  to  you,  Pa- 
troclus !  We  both  of  us  know  better.  For  the 
exceptional  horse  can  learn  to  rack  or  single-foot 
without  detriment  to  his  other  paces,  if  he  be  not 
kept  upon  these  gaits  too  long  at  any  time. 

Half  a  mile  ahead  of  us  is  the  little  grass- 
grown  lane,  where  we  can  indulge  in  a  canter  or 
a  frolicsome  gallop.  Shall  we  quicken  our  speed 
a  trifle  ?  Simply  a  "  Trot,  Pat ! "  and  on  the 
second  step  you  fall  into  as  square  and  level  a 
trot  as  ever  horse  could  boast.  I  know  how 
quickly  you  obey  my  voice,  old  boy,  and  but  one 
step  from  my  word  I  am  ready  to  catch  the  first 
rise,  and  without  the  semblance  of  a  jar  we  are  in 
a  full  sharp  trot.  How  I  love  to  look  over  your 
shoulder,  Patroclus,  and  see  your  broad,  flat  knee 
come  swinging  up,  and  showing  at  every  step  its 
bony  angles  beyond  the  point  of  your  shoulder ; 
though,  indeed,  your  shoulder  is  so  slanting  that 
the  saddle  sits  well  back,  and  your  rider  is  too 
old  a  soldier  to  lean  much  to  his  trot.  And  you 
will  go  six  to  —  I  had  almost  said  sixteen  —  miles 
an  hour  at  this  gait,  nor  vary  an  ounce  of  pres- 
sure on  your  velvety  mouth.  How  is  it,  Patro- 
clus, that  you  catch  the  meaning  of  my  hands  so 
readily } 


Thoroughbred  or  Galloway,  33 

VI. 

The  fancy  of  to-day  is  for  the  daisy-clipping 
thoroughbred.  And  when  they  do  not  run  to  the 
knife-blade  pattern,  they  may  be  the  finest  mounts 
a  man  can  throw  his  leg  across.  But  my  fancy 
for  the  road  has  always  been  for  the  higher  step- 
ping half-bred.  Granted  that  on  the  turf  or  across 
a  flying  country  blood  will  tell.  Granted  that 
brilliant  knee  action  is  mainly  ornamental.  Still, 
in  America,  the  half-bred  will  average  much  bet- 
ter in  looks,  and  vastly  more  satisfactory  in  hardy 
service.  Where  shall  we  again  find  the  equiva- 
lent of  the  Morgan  breed,  now  all  but  lost  in  the 
desire  to  get  the  typical  running  horse }  For  sad- 
dle work,  and  the  very  best  of  its  kind,  there  was 
never  a  finer  pattern  than  the  Morgan.  Alas, 
that  we  have  allowed  him  to  disappear!  His 
worth  would  soon  come  to  the  fore  in  these  days 
of  saddle  pleasures.  The  thoroughbred's  charac- 
teristic is  ability  to  perform  prodigies  of  speed 
and  endurance  at  exceptional  times.  But  the 
strong,  every-day-in-the-year  good  performer  is 
usually  no  more  than  half-bred,  if  even  that. 
Moreover,  you  can  find  a  hundred  daisy-clippers 
for  one  proud  stepper,  be  he  thoroughbred  or  gal- 
loway. There  is  such  a  thing  as  waste  of  action. 
No  one  wants  to  straddle  a  black  Hanoverian  out 
of  a  hearse.     But  the  horse  who  steps  high  may 


34  What  is  a  Thoroughbred? 

be  as  good  a  stayer  as  the  one  who  does  not,  and 
high  action  is  a  beauty  which  deHghts  men's  eyes 
and  opens  their  purses.  Because  the  long  stride 
of  the  turf  is  better  for  being  low,  it  is  not  safe 
to  apply  this  rule  to  the  road. 

There  are  many  more  worthless  brutes  among 
thoroughbreds  than  among  the  common  herd. 
While  it  is  easy  to  acknowledge  that  the  perfect 
thoroughbred  excels  all  other  horses,  the  fact 
must  also  be  noted  that  he  is  of  extremest  rarity, 
and  even  when  found  is  infrequently  up  to 
weight.  If  we  use  the  word  advisedly,  only  the 
horse  registered  in  the  Stud  Book  is  a  thorough- 
bred. These  have  no  early  training  whatever,  ex- 
cept to  allow  themselves  to  be  mounted,  and  to 
run  their  best.  If  they  stand  the  initial  test  of 
speed,  they  are  reserved  for  the  turf,  and  there 
wholly  spoiled  for  the  saddle  or  for  any  other  pur- 
pose of  pleasure.  If  they  do  not,  they  are  turned 
adrift,  half  spoiled  in  mouth  and  manners  by 
tricky  stable-boys,  and  may  or  may  not  fall  into 
good  hands.  For  one  thoroughbred  with  perfect 
manners,  sound,  and  up  to  weight,  there  are  a 
score  of  really  good  half-breds,  as  near  perfection 
as  their  owners  choose  or  are  able  to  make  them. 

What  we  in  America  are  apt  colloquially  to  call 
a  thoroughbred  is  only  a  horse  which,  in  his  looks, 
shows  some  decided  infusion  of  good  blood,  or  is 
sired  by  a  well-bred  horse.     But  it  is  to  be  re- 


Good  Half-Breds.  35 

membered  that  of  two  horses  with  an  equal  strain 
of  pure  blood,  one  may  have  reverted  to  a  coarse 
physical  type,  and  the  other  to  the  finer.  And 
the  one  who  has  inherited  the  undeniable  stamp 
of  the  common-bred  ancestor  may  also  have  in- 
herited from  the  other  side  those  qualities  of  con- 
stitution, courage,  intelligence,  and  speed,  which 
sum  up  the  value  of  high  English  blood.  Not 
one  fine-bred  horse  in  one  hundred  —  I  speak 
from  the  ownership  of,  and  daily  personal  inti- 
macy for  considerable  periods  with,  over  fifty  good 
saddle  beasts,  —  has  as  many  of  the  admirable 
qualities  of  pure  blood  as  Patroclus.  And  yet 
{absit  omen),  he  has  a  wave  in  his  tail,  and  though 
his  feet  and  legs  are  perfect  in  shape,  and  as  clean 
as  a  colt's,  they  are  far  beyond  the  thoroughbred's 
in  size.  He  shows  that  his  ancestry  runs  back 
both  to  the  desert  and  the  plough.  In  America, 
surely,  handsome  is  that  handsome  does.  Let  us 
value  good  blood  for  its  qualities,  not  looks,  and 
ride  serviceable  half-breds,  instead  of  sporting 
worthless  weeds  because  they  approach  to  the 
clothes-horse  pattern,  or  have  necks  like  camels. 

VII. 

One  of  the  most  distinctly  promising  features 
of  the  athletic  tendencies  of  to-day  is  the  mania 
for  the  saddle.  Fifteen  years  ago,  the  boys  along 
the  Boston  streets  used  to  hoot  at  your  master, 


36  A  Pretty  Sight. 

Patroclus.  Not,  indeed,  that  he  had  a  poor  seat 
or  needed  to  "  get  inside  and  pull  down  the 
blinds,"  as  the  London  cad  might  phrase  it,  for  a 
good  or  bad  seat  was  all  alike  to  them  ;  rather  at 
the  wholly  unusual  sight  of  a  man  on  horseback 
—  outside  of  politics. 

But  the  number  of  good  horsemen,  and  horse- 
women too,  is  growing  every  day.  Here  comes  a 
couple  at  a  brisk  round  trot.  How  can  we  no- 
tice the  lad,  Patroclus,  when  the  lassie  looks  so 
sweetly  .?  In  her  neat  habit,  with  dainty  protrud- 
ing foot  and  ankle,  sitting  her  trappy-gaited  mount 
with  ease  and  grace,  the  bloom  of  health  fairly 
dazzling  you  as  she  rushes  by,  so  that  you  doubt 
whether  it  be  her  pretty  eye  and  white  teeth  or 
her  ruddy  skin  and  happy  face  which  has  set 
even  your  ancient  heart  a-throbbing,  how  can  a 
woman  look  more  attractive  ? 

But  the  alluring  sight  is  not  long-lived.  Fol- 
lowing hard  upon  them  comes,  not  the  first  rider 
who  has  chased  a  petticoat,  a  young  Anglomaniac. 
He  fancies  that  his  hunting-crop,  his  immaculate 
rig,  and  his  elbows  out-Britishing  the  worst  of 
British  snobs,  as  he  leans  far  over  his  pommel, 
make  him  a  pattern  rider.  You  can  see  the  day- 
light under  his  knees.  A  sudden  plunge  would 
send  him.  Lord  knows  where !  Haply  his  dock- 
tailed  plug  remembers  the  shafts  full  well  and 
steadily  plods  ahead.     But  bless  his  little  dudish 


A  Slow  Canter,  37 

heart!   he  will  learn  better.     As  his  months  in 

the  saddle  increase,  he  will  find  his  seat  as  well 

as  his  place.     We  Americans  are  the  making  of 

an  excellent  race  of  horsemen.     It  is  a  pleasure 

to  see  the  increase  in  the  number  of  promising 

riders  who  seek  the  western  suburbs  every  day. 

We  shall  all  ride,  as  we  manage  to  do  everything, 

well,  —  after  a  while.     There  is  of  course  a  lot  of 

rubbish   and   imported  —  rot,   shall   we   call    it  ? 

But  what  odds  1  so  there  is  in  art,  music,  politics, 

religion. 

VIII. 

You  see  the  corner  of  the  lane,  Patroclus,  while 
I  have  been  thus  musing,  and  your  lively  ear  and 
instinctively  quickened  gait  rouse  my  half-dazed 
thoughts.  Here  we  are.  Shall  we  take  our  accus- 
tomed canter .?  You  always  wait  the  word,  though 
you  are  eagerness  itself,  for  you  do  not  yet  know 
when  I  want  you  to  start,  or  which  foot  I  may  ask 
you  to  lead  with.  Though,  indeed,  you  will  some- 
times prance  a  bit,  and  change  step  in  the  alter- 
nate graceful  bounds  of  the  passage,  to  invite  and 
urge  my  choice.  The  least  pressure  of  one  leg, 
and  off  you  go,  leading  with  the  opposite  shoul- 
der. And  you  will  keep  this  foot  by  the  mile, 
Patroclus,  or  change  at  every  second  step,  should 
I  ask  you  so  to  do.  You  need  but  the  slightest 
monition  of  my  leg,  and  instantly  your  other 
shoulder  takes  the  lead.    I  see  you  want  to  gallop. 


38  Fox-Hunting  on  the  Road, 

boy!  But  not  quite  yet.  You  must  not  forget 
that  you  have  been  taught,  as  they  say  in  Ken- 
tucky, to  canter  all  day  long  in  the  shade  of  an 
apple  tree,  if  so  be  it  your  master  wishes.  You 
shall  have  your  gallop  anon.  But  you  must  never 
forget  that  a  horse  who  can  only  walk  or  go  a 
twelve  mile  trot  or  hand-gallop,  though  he  may 
lead  the  hunt  cross-country,  is  an  unmitigated 
nuisance  on  the  road.  Slow  and  easy  gaits  are  as 
valuable  to  the  park-hack  as  long  wind  and  speed 
to  the  racer.  And  although  Boston,  as  yet,  boasts 
no  Rotten  Row,  are  not  the  daily  rides  through 
its  exquisite  environments  the  equivalent  of  the 
canter  in  that  justly  celebrated  resort,  rather  than 
the  mere  country  tramp  upon  a  handy  roadster  or 
the  ride  to  cover  on  a  rapid  covert-hack.?  And 
yet  our  imitation  of  our  British  cousins  has  ap- 
proximated less  to  the  pleasure  ride  than  to  the 
cross-country  style.  Perhaps,  in  our  eagerness  to 
convince  ourselves  that  we  have  learned  all  there 
is  worth  knowing  in  the  art,  we  have  aped  what 
is  confessedly  the  finest  of  horseback  sports,  and 
forgotten  the  more  moderate  fashion  of  Hyde 
Park.  Let  us  remember  that  we  can  saunter  on 
the  road  every  day,  while  riding  to  hounds  is  for 
most  of  us  a  rarish  luxury.  • 


The  Perfect  Hack.  39 

IX. 

Because  a  horse  can  go  well  to  hounds,  it  does 
not  follow  that  he  is  fit  for  park  or  road  work  any 
more  than  the  three-year-old  who  wins  the  Derby 
or  St.  Leger  is  fitted  for  a  palfrey.  A  horse  whose 
business  it  is  to  run  and  jump  must  have  his 
head ;  while  a  horse,  to  be  a  clever  and  agreeable 
hack,  should  learn  that  the  bit  is  a  limitation  of 
his  action,  and  that  the  slightest  movement  of  the 
hand  or  leg  of  the  rider  has  its  meaning.  What 
is  impossible  in  galloping  over  ploughed  fields  is 
essential  to  comfort  on  the  road.  In  the  field, 
everything  must  be  subservient  to  saving  the 
horse ;  the  rider's  comfort  is  the  rule  of  the  park. 
It  is  every  day  that  we  may  see  a  rider  who 
deems  his  excellent  hunter  a  good  saddle  beast, 
when,  however  clever  cross-country,  he  is  ab- 
solutely ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of  the 
manege.  He  forgets  that  each  is  perfect  in  his 
own  place  and  may  be  useless  in  the  other's. 

I  am  the  owner  of  a  fine-bred  mare,  whom  I 
have  as  yet  had  no  opportunity  to  school.  She  is 
the  perfect  type  of  a  twelve-stone  hunter.  After 
hounds  she  will  attract  the  eye  of  the  whole  field 
for  distinguished  beauty,  and  ridden  up  to  her 
capacity,  can  always  be  in  the  first  flight.  She 
has  speed,  endurance,  and  fine  disposition,  is  as 
sound  and  hardy  as  a  hickory  stick,  and  in  her 


40  Old  Cheddar  Tops. 

place  unsurpassed.  Almost  any  of  the  horsemen 
of  to-day's  Modern  Athens  would  select  this  mare 
in  preference  to  Patroclus.  And  yet,  a  four-in- 
hand  of  her  type,  as  she  now  is,  Tantivy  coach 
thrown  in  for  make-weight,  are  not  worth  one 
Patroclus  for  real  saddle-work,  because  she  has 
no  conception  of  moderate  gaits.  She  is  bound 
to  go  twelve  miles  an  hour  if  you  let  her  out  of  a 
walk,  or  fret  at  the  restraint.  I  can  ride  Patroclus 
twenty-five  miles  without  fatigue.  If  I  ride  the 
mare  ten  miles,  I  come  in  tired,  drenched  with 
heat,  and  probably  with  my  temper  somewhat 
ruffled,  while  she  has  fretted  to  a  lather  more 
than  once,  and  we  have  both  been  so  hot  during 
the  entire  ride  that,  if  the  day  is  raw,  it  has  been 
dangerous  to  ease  into  a  walk.  If  I  ride  Patro- 
clus  over  the  same  ground  in  the  same  time,  we 
shall  both  come  in  fresh  as  a  daisy,  dry,  and  each 
well-pleased  with  the  other.  While  this  mare  can 
gallop  fast  and  is  easy  and  kind,  a  man  must 
work  his  passage  to  make  her  canter  a  six  mile 
gait.  She  has  no  more  ambition  than  Patroclus, 
but  she  does  not  curb  it  to  the  will  of  her  rider. 
With  a  knowledge  of  all  which,  however,  most  of 
our  young  swells  would  select  the  mare  for  simple 
road  riding,  because  she  looks  so  like  a  thorough- 
bred hunter,  and  rather  suggests  the  impression 
that  they  habitually  ride  to  hounds.  As  well 
saunter  in  the  park  in  a  pink  coat  and  with  "  tops 
carefully  dressed  to  the  color  of  Old  Cheddar." 


The  Manege.  41 

X. 

The  manege  need  not  mean  all  the  little  refine- 
ments of  training  which,  however  delightful  to 
the  initiated,  are  unnecessary  to  comfort  or  safety. 
But  no  horse  can  be  called  a  good  saddle  beast 
w^hose  forehand  and  croup  will  not  yield  at  once 
to  the  lightest  pressure  of  rein  or  leg.  Most 
horses  will  swing  their  forehands  with  some  read- 
iness, if  not  in  a  well-balanced  manner.  But  not 
many  are  taught  to  swing  the  croup  at  all ;  very 
few  can  do  so  handily.  The  perfect  saddle  horse 
should  be  able  to  swing  his  croup  about  in  a  com- 
plete circle,  of  which  one  fore-foot  is  the  immova- 
ble centre,  or  his  forehand  about  the  proper  hind 
foot,  in  either  direction  at  will.  He  should  come 
"  in  hand,"  that  is,  gather  his  legs  well  under  him, 
so  as  to  be  on  a  perfect  balance  the  moment  you 
take  up  the  reins  and  close  your  legs  upon  him. 
He  should  in  the  canter  or  gallop  start  with 
either  foot  leading,  or  instantly  change  foot  in 
motion  at  the  will  of  his  rider.  He  should  have 
easy,  handy  gaits,  the  more  the  better,  if  he  can 
keep  them  distinct  and  true.  These  accomplish- 
ments, added  to  a  light  mouth  and  a  temper  of 
equal  courage  and  moderation,  or,  in  short,  "  man- 
ners," make  that  rare  creature,  —  the  perfect  sad- 
dle horse. 

It  is  in  this  that  the  English  err.     In  their  pei^ 


42  Military  Leaping. 

feet  development  of  the  hunter  and  the  racer  they 
neglect  the  training  of  the  hack.  Though  it  be 
heresy  to  the  mania  of  the  day  to  say  so,  it  is 
none  the  less  true  that  while  you  seek  your  bold 
as  well  as  discreet  and  experienced  cross-country 
rider  in  England,  you  must  go  to  the  Continent, 
or  among  the  British  cavalry,  to  find  your  ac- 
complished horseman. 

It  is  the  general  impression  among  men  who 
ride  to  hounds,  and  still  more  among  men  who 
pretend  to  do  so,  that  leaping  is  the  tiltima  thule 
of  equestrianism ;  and  that  a  man  who  can  sit  a 
horse  over  a  four  foot  hurdle  has  graduated  in 
the  art  of  horsemanship.  The  corollary  to  this 
error  is  also  an  article  of  faith  among  men  who 
hunt,  that  is,  that  no  other  class  of  riders  can 
leap  their  horses  boldly  and  well.  But  both  ideas 
are  as  strange  as  they  are  mistaken. 

The  cavalry  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Italy 
show  the  finest  of  horsemanship.  More  than  a 
quarter  century  ago,  the  author  spent  three  years 
in  Berlin  under  the  tuition  of  a  retired  major-gen- 
eral of  the  Prussian  army,  and  saw  a  great  deal 
of  the  daily  inside  life,  as  well  as  the  exceptional 
parade  life,  of  the  army.  He  has  often  seen  a 
column  of  cavalry,  with  sabres  drawn,  ride  across 
water  which  would  bring  half  the  Myopia  Hunt 
to  a  stand-still  on  an  ordinary  run  after  hounds. 
Why  should  not  men  whose  business  it  is  to  ride, 
do  so  well } 


Soldiers  have  Stout  Seats,  43 

Think  you  there  was  not  good  horsemanship 
at  Vionville,  when  von  Bredow  (one  of  the  au- 
thor's old  school  friends,  by  the  way)  with  his  six 
squadrons,  to  enable  Bruddenbrock  to  hold  his 
position  till  the  reinforcements  of  the  Tenth 
Corps  could  reach  him,  rode  into  the  centre  of 
the  Sixth  French  Corps  d'Armee  ?  In  slender 
line,  he  and  his  men,  three  squadrons  of  the 
Seventh  Cuirassiers,  and  three  of  the  Sixteenth 
Uhlans,  charged  over  the  French  artillery  in  the 
first  line,  the  French  infantry  in  line  of  battle, 
and  reached  the  mitrailleuses  and  reserves  in 
the  rear,  where  they  sabred  the  gunners  at  their 
guns.  What  though  but  thirteen  officers  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  out  of  near  a  thousand  re- 
turned from  that  gallant  ride  ?  Though  no  Ten- 
nyson has  sung  their  glorious  deed,  though  we 
forget  the  willing  courage  with  which  they  faced 
a  certain  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  duty  to  the 
Fatherland,  think  you  those  men  rode  not  well,  as 
a  mere  act  of  horsemanship  ? 

Think  you  that  the  handful  of  men  of  the 
Eighth  Pennsylvania,  at  Chancellorsville,  when 
they  charged  down  upon  Stonewall  Jackson's  vic- 
torious and  elated  legions,  riding  in  column 
through  the  chapparal  and  over  the  fallen  timber 
of  the  Wilderness,  carving  their  path  through 
thousands  of  the  best  troops  who  ever  followed 
gallant  leader,  sat   not  firmly  in  their  saddles? 


44  Cavalry  versus  Hunting. 

Think  you  that  the  men  who  followed  Sheridan 
in  many  a  gallant  charge,  or  Fitz  Hugh  Lee,  for- 
sooth, could  not  ride  as  well  as  the  best  of  us 
across  a  bit  of  turf,  with  a  modest  wall  now  and 
then  to  lend  its  zest  to  the  pleasure  ?  Neither 
we  nor  our  British  cousins  can  monopolize  all  the 
virtue  of  the  world,  even  in  the  art  equestrian. 

As  there  is  no  doubt  that  fox-hunting  is  one  of 
the  most  inspiriting  and  manly  of  occupations,  or 
that  the  English  are  preeminent  in  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  art,  so  there  is  likewise  no  doubt  that 
equally  stout  riders  sit  in  foreign  saddles.  And 
though  each  would  have  to  learn  the  other's  trade, 
I  fancy  you  could  sooner  teach  a  score  or  a  hun- 
dred average  cavalry  officers  of  any  nation  to  ride 
well  across  country,  than  an  equal  number  of 
clever,  fox-hunting  Englishmen  to  do  the  mere 
saddle  work  of  any  well-drilled  troops.  Leaping 
is  uniformly  practiced  and  well  taught,  in  all  reg- 
ular cavalry  regiments  of  every  army  with  which 
I  have  been  familiar  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

XI. 

Well,  Patroclus,  you  have  earned  your  gallop. 
I  loosen  in  the  least  my  hold  upon  the  reins,  and 
shaking  your  head  from  very  delight,  off  you  go 
like  the  wind.  Never  could  charger  plunge  into 
a  mad  gallop  more  quickly  than  you,  Patroclus. 
Your  stride  is  long,  your  gather  quick,  and  the 


Danger  Ahead.  45 

reserve  power  in  your  well-balanced  movements 
so  inspiring,  that  I  would  almost  ride  you  at  the 
Charles  River,  in  the  expectation  that  you  would 
clear  it.  But  the  lane  is  all  too  short.  Steady, 
sir,  steady !  and  down  you  come  in  a  dozen 
bounds  to  a  gait  from  which  you  can  fall  into  a 
walk  at  word. 

But  what  is  that  ?  A  rustling  in  the  woods  be- 
side us  !  That  sounds  indeed  frightsome  enough 
to  make  you  start  and  falter.  You  are  not  de- 
void of  fear,  Patroclus.  No  high-couraged  horse 
can  ever  be.  But  though  you  may  tremble  in 
every  limb,  if  I  speak  to  you,  I  may  safely  throw 
the  reins  upon  your  neck.  So,  boy !  To  face 
danger  oftener  insures  safety  than  to  run  from  it. 
To  the  right  about,  and  let  us  see  what  it  means. 
Steady,  again !  Now  stand,  and  let  it  come. 
There,  Patroclus,  despite  your  snort  of  fear,  it  is 
only  a  couple  of  stray  calves  cutting  their  un- 
gainly capers  as  they  make  their  way  towards 
home.  Their  bustle,  like  that  of  so  many  of  the 
rest  of  us,  far  exceeds  their  importance.  Was  not 
this  much  better  seen  than  avoided  ?  You  would 
have  hardly  liked  this  pleasant  lane  again  had  we 
not  seen  the  matter  through. 

I  have  never  kept  you  in  condition,  Patroclus, 
to  stand  heavy  bursts  after  hounds,  or  indeed  any 
exceptionally  long  or  sharp  run.  That  means  too 
much  deprivation  of  your  daily  company.     Nor 


46  A  Four-Foot  Gate. 

indeed,  be  it  confessed,  is  your  master  himself 
often  in  the  condition  requisite  to  do  the  sharp- 
est work.  It  will  generally  be  noticed  that  the 
clear  eye  and  firm  muscle  of  the  rider  is  a  factor 
in  the  problem  of  how  to  be  in  at  the  death,  as 
well  as  the  lungs  and  courage  of  the  hunter. 
And  yet,  Patroclus,  you  are,  within  your  limits,  a 
model  jumper,  and  always  seem  to  have  a  spare 
leg.  No  horse  delights  more  in  being  headed  at 
a  wall  or  ditch  than  you,  even  in  cold  blood. 
For  any  horse  worthy  the  name  will  jump  after  a 
fashion  in  company.  At  the  end  of  our  lane  we 
can  take  the  short  cut  towards  the  great  highway, 
over  the  gate  and  the  little  brook  and  hedge.  As 
I  talk  to  you,  I  can  see  that  you  catch  my  pur- 
pose, for  as  we  draw  near  the  place,  the  might  of 
conscious  strength  seems  to  course  through  all 
your  veins.  >  Perhaps  I  have  unwittingly  settled 
into  my  seat  as  I  thought  of  the  four-foot  gate. 
Here  we  are,  and  there  is  just  enough  bend  in 
the  road  to  ride  at  the  gate  with  comfort.  Head 
up,  ears  erect,  eyes  starting  from  out  their  sock- 
ets, no  need  to  guide  you  towards  it,  my  Patro- 
clus !  No  excitement,  no  uncertainty,  no  flurry. 
You  and  I  know  how  surely  we  are  going  over. 
A  quiet  canter,  but  full  of  elastic  power,  to  within 
about  fifty  feet  of  the  jump,  and  then  a  short  burst, 
measuring  every  stride,  till  with  a  "  Now  boy  !  "  as 
you  approach  the  proper  gather,  I  give  you  your 


A  Bit  of  Water.  47 

head,  and  you  go  into  the  air  Hke  a  swallow. 
Just  a  fraction  of  a  second  —  how  much  longer  it 
seems !  —  and  we  land  cleverly,  well  together,  and 
in  three  strides  more  you  have  fallen  into  a  jog 
again.  And  now  you  look  back,  lest,  perchance, 
the  lump  of  sugar  or  Seckel  pear  which  used  to 
reward  you  when  you  were  learning  your  lesson 
should  be  forthcoming  now.  But  no,  Patroclus, 
my  good  word  and  a  kindly  pat  for  your  docility 
and  strength  must  be  your  meed  to-day.  Canter 
along  on  the  soft  turf  till  we  come  to  the  little 
brook.  We  will  call  it  a  brook,  and  think  of  it 
as  a  big  one,  though  it  is  barely  eight  feet  wide. 
But  never  mind.  We  can  jump  thrice  its  width 
just  as  well  as  across  it.  Remember,  Patroclus, 
water  requires  speed  and  well-set  purpose,  as 
height  does  clean  discretion.  At  it,  my  boy ! 
Take  your  own  stride.  There 's  lots  of  room  this 
side  and  more  on  the  other  bank. 

"  Harden  your  heart,  and  catch  hold  of  the  bridle, 
Steady  him  !     Rouse  him  !     Over  he  goes  !  " 

In  the  air  again ;  this  time  it  seems  like  a  minute 
almost.  There,  Patroclus,  if  it  had  been  twenty 
feet  of  water,  you  would  not  have  known  the 
odds.     Now  for  the  road  and  company. 


48  Saddles, 


XII. 


The  same  reasoning  may  be  applied  to  saddles 
as  to  gaits.  To  pull  down  a  bull,  the  Texan  must 
be  furnished  with  a  horn-pommel,  which  would 
have  been  highly  dangerous  to  his  rider  if  Patro- 
clus  had  happened  to  come  down  over  the  gate 
just  leaped.  Indeed,  nothing  but  the  flattest  of 
saddles  is  safe  to  the  steeple-chaser.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  soldier  rides  a  trot,  or  uses  his  sabre  to 
much  better  advantage  with  a  cantle  sufficiently 
high  to  lean  against.  And  any  man  is  liable  to 
have  some  physical  conformation  requiring  a  pe- 
culiar saddle. 

The  present  generation  of  new-fledged  riders 
would  fain  tie  us  down  to  the  English  hunting- 
seat  by  laws  like  the  Medes  and  Persians.  This 
is  a  good  pattern  for  our  Eastern  needs,  but  let 
us  not  call  it  the  only  one.  It  is,  of  course,  well 
when  in  Rome  to  do  as  the  Romans  do,  or  at 
least  so  nearly  like  them  as  not  to  provoke  re- 
mark. But  every  one  cannot  do  this,  and  the  old 
trooper  is  not  apt  to  ride  this  way.  And  yet, 
there  are  thousands  of  ancient  cavalry  soldiers  all 
over  this  country,  North  and  South,  who,  naked 
weapon  in  hand,  have  done  such  feats  of  horse- 
manship as  would  shame  most  of  the  stoutest  of 
to-day's  fox-hunting,  polo-playing  riders.  I  do  not 
refer  to  the  obstacles  they  used  to  ride  at,  —  which 


The  Old  Trooper.  49 

meant  a  vast  deal  more  than  merely  an  ugly  tum- 
ble over  a  three-foot  stone  wall ;  I  refer  to  their 
stout  seats  in  the  saddle,  and  the  rough  ground 
they  were  wont  to  cover  when  they  rode  down 
upon  and  over  a  belching  wall  of  fire.  For  all 
which,  whenever  we  see  one  of  these  old  troopers 
out  for  a  ride,  modestly  (for  he  is  always  modest) 
airing  his  army  saddle,  strong  curb,  and  long  and 
hooded  stirrups,  we  may,  perchance,  notice  the 
jeer  of  the  stripling,  whose  faultless  dress  and 
bang-tailed  screw  are  but  a  sham  which  hides  his 
lack  of  heart.  It  always  gives  one's  soul  a  glow 
of  pride  to  see  the  well-known  seat,  and  one  is 
fain  tempted  to  ride  up  to  the  old  comrade  and 
grasp  him  by  the  hand.  A  thorough  rider  will 
recognize  his  equal  under  any  garb.  It  is  pre- 
tense alone  which  merits  a  rebuke.  You  cannot 
make  a  poor  rider  a  good  one  by  mounting  him 
in  a  fashionable  saddle,  any  more  than  you  can 
make  a  worthless  brute  a  good  horse  by  giving 
his  tail  the  latest  dock. 

XIII. 

Until  within  no  great  time  the  modified  mili- 
tary seat  has  been  the  one  which  formed  the 
basis  of  instruction.  The  riding-master,  I  pre- 
sume, still  insists,  with  civilian  and  recruit  alike, 
on  feet  parallel  with  the  horse,  heels  down,  toes 
in,   knee   grip,  and  a  hold   of   reins   utterly  un- 


50  Knees  and  Feet. 

known  in  the  hunting-field.  And  with  a  certain 
reason,  though  indeed  the  old  whip's  rule  of 
"  'eels  and  'ands  down,  'ead  and  'eart  'igh,"  is  the 
whole  of  the  story,  after  all.  For  the  man  who 
begins  with  a  knee  grip  will  never  forget  what  his 
knees  are  for,  and  will  not,  like  the  good  little 
dude  we  passed  a  while  ago,  show  daylight  be- 
tween them  and  the  saddle-flap  at  every  rise.  But 
the  knee  grip  alone  will  not  suffice  for  all  occa- 
sions, despite  our  military  or  riding-school  friends. 
A  madly  plunging  horse  or  a  big  leap  will  in- 
stinctively call  out  a  grip  with  all  the  legs  a  man 
can  spare.  Moreover,  the  closer  you  keep  your 
legs  to  the  horse  without  clasping  him,  the  better. 
Go  into  the  hunting-field  or  over  a  steeple-chase 
course,  and  you  will  find  that  the  inside  of  your 
boot-tops  —  and  not  only  yours,  but  every  other 
jockey's  as  well  —  have  been  rubbed  hard  and 
constantly  against  the  saddle.  There  lies  the 
proof.  At  West  Point,  and  in  fact  at  every  mili- 
tary school,  the  cadets  are  sometimes  practiced  to 
ride  with  a  scrap  of  paper  held  to  the  saddle  by 
the  knee  while  they  leap  a  bar,  and  at  the  same 
time  thrust  or  cut  with  the  sabre  at  a  convenient 
dummy  foe.  I  have  seen  a  silver  dollar  so  held 
between  the  knee  and  saddle.  But  the  bar  is  not 
a  succession  of  high  stone  walls,  nor  is  the  cadet 
riding  a  burst  of  several  miles.  And  with  a 
longer  stirrup  it  is  more  natural  to  keep  the  foot 


Sydney  Smith  on  Riding.  51 

parallel  with  the  horse's  side.  To-day,  the  best 
riders  do  not  so  hold  their  feet.  Cross-country  a 
man  certainly  does  not.  The  proof  is  forthcom- 
ing at  the  Country  Club  on  any  race-day,  or  at 
every  meet  here  or  in  England,  that  a  man  riding 
over  an  obstacle  of  any  size  will  use  all  the  legs 
he  can  without  digging  his  spurs  into  his  horse's 
flanks,  in  a  way  he  could  not  do  with  the  feet  par- 
allel to  the  horse's  sides. 

The  modern  dispensation  differs  from  the  old 
one  in  not  being  tied  to  the  military  seat.  The 
Rev.  Sydney  Smith  objected  to  clergymen  riding, 
but  modified  his  disapproval  in  those  cases  when 
they  "  rode  very  badly  and  turned  out  their  toes." 
A  generation  ago,  a  man  was  always  thinking  of 
the  position  of  his  feet,  as  he  cares  not  to  do  to- 
day, if  he  sits  firmly  in  the  saddle,  and  boasts 

light  hands. 

XIV. 

While  on  this  subject,  one  cannot  refrain  from 
indulging  in  a  friendly  laugh  at  the  attempt  to 
bend  our  unreasonable  Eastern  weather  to  the 
conditions  of  a  fox-hunting  climate.  The  hunt- 
ing season  is  that  time  of  the  year  when  the 
crops  are  out  of  the  ground.  In  England,  during 
the  winter  months,  the  weather  is  open  and  moist, 
and  the  soft  ground  makes  falling  "  delightfully 
easy,"  as  dear  old  John  Leech  has  it.  And  the 
little  hedges  and  ditches  of  some  of  the   good 


52  Useless  Jumping. 

hunting  counties,  or  indeed  the  ox-fences  and 
grassy  fields  of  Leicestershire,  are  such  as  to 
make  a  day  out  a  positive  pound  of  pleasure, 
with  scarce  an  ounce  of  danger  to  spice  it,  if  you 
choose  to  ride  with  moderation.  For  the  best 
rider  in  the  Old  Country  is  not  the  hare-brained 
cockney  who  risks  both  his  horse's  and  his  own 
less  valuable  neck  in  the  field ;  it  is  he  who 
chooses  discreetly  his  course,  and  makes  headway 
with  the  least  exertion  to  his  hunter  compatible 
with  his  keeping  a  good  place  in  the  field.  The 
man  who  appreciates  how  jumping  takes  strength 
out  of  a  horse,  or  who  is  any  judge  of  pace,  is  apt 
to  save,  not  risk  him.  Few  men  willingly  jump 
an  obstacle  which  they  can  readily  avoid  without 
too  much  delay.  Read  the  legends  of  the  famous 
hunting-men  of  England,  and  you  will  find  dis- 
cretion always  outranking  valor.  Any  fool  can 
ride  at  a  dangerous  obstacle.  Courage  of  that 
kind  is  a  common  virtue.  But  it  takes  a  make-up 
of  quite  a  different  nature  to  be  in,  as  a  rule,  at 
the  death.  How  many  five-barred  gates  will  a 
man  jump  when  he  can  open  them  .?  How  much 
water  will  he  face  when  there  is  a  bridge  near 
by }  Does  not  every  one  dismount  in  hilly  coun- 
tries to  ease  his  horse  ?  A  good  rider  must  be 
ready  to  throw  his  heart  over  any  obstacle  possi- 
ble to  himself  and  his  horse,  when  he  cannot  get 
round  it.    But  a  discreet  horseman  puts  his  horse 


Chilly  Fox-Hunting.  53 

only  at  such  leaps  as  he  must  take,  or  which  will 
win  him  a  distinct  advantage. 

England  is  naturally  a  hunting  country.  But 
here,  Lord  save  the  mark !  there  are  no  foxes 
to  speak  of.  Scent  won't  lie,  as  a  general  thing, 
with  the  thermometer  below  thirty  (though  scent 
is  one  of  those  mysterious  things  which  only 
averages  according  to  rules,  and  every  now  and 
then  shows  an  unaccountable  exception),  and  the 
obstacles  are  snake  fences  or  stone  walls  with 
lumpy,  frozen  ground  to  land  on,  or,  belike,  a  pile 
of  bowlders  or  a  sheet  of  ice.  A  bad  fall  means 
potentially  broken  bones  or  a  ruined  horse,  and 
while  you  are  beating  cover  for  the  fox  who  won't 
be  found,  you  are  shaking  with  the  cold,  and  your 
clipped  or  over-heated  beast  is  sowing  the  seeds 
of  lung-fever. 

You,  Patroclus,  were  once  laid  up  five  months 
by  landing  on  a  snag  the  further  side  of  a  most 
harmless-looking  stone  wall,  and  tearing  out  some 
of  the  coronal  arteries. 

There  are  plenty  of  good  horseback  sports 
without  a  resort  to  what  is  clearly  out  of  the  lati- 
tude. If  you  wait  for  good  hunting  weather,  the 
crops  interfere  with  your  sport,  and  our  farmers 
have  not  the  English  inducement  to  welcome  the 
hunt  across  the  fields,  tilled  at  the  sweat  of  their 
brow.  In  the  South,  both  weather  and  much 
waste  land  make  fox-hunting  more  easy  to  carry 


54  Reynard  loves  the  Chase. 

on.  But  even  there  it  does  not  thrive.  Here  in 
the  East  it  will  not  be  made  indigenous. 

Not  but  what,  on  a  bright  sunny  day,  a  meet 
at  which  equine  admirers  can  show  their  neat 
turn-outs  and  glossy  steeds  and  discuss  horseflesh 
in  the  general  and  the  particular  is  a  delight- 
ful experience.  And  indeed,  wherever  crops  and 
covers  do  not  monopolize  the  country,  a  good 
drag-hunt  may  often  be  had  before  cold  weather 
mars  the  sport.  Perchance,  in  time,  Reynard  may 
take  up  his  abode  with  us,  when  vulpicide  shall 
be  punished  by  real  ostracism.  For  has  not 
the  Ettrick  Shepherd  proven  conclusively  that 
Reynard  loves  the  chase  ?  But  far  from  under- 
rating the  caged  fox  or  anise-seed  bag,  hare  and 
hounds  would  seem  to  afford  the  better  sport. 
For  the  hares,  an  they  will,  can  carry  you  across 
a  country  where  each  one  can  choose  his  own 
course,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  follow  a  leader 
through  wood-paths,  and  through  second  growth 
which  is  all  but  jungle,  where,  if  one  happens  to 
blunder  at  an  obstacle,  your  follower  will  come 
riding  down  atop  of  you,  and  where  you  are 
bound  to  be  "  nowhere  "  unless  you  get  away  with 
the  first  half-dozen  men. 

But  spite  of  all  its  drawbacks,  Patroclus,  you 
and  I  enjoy  in  equal  measure  a  run  under  fair 
conditions  as  much  as  the  best  of  them.  And 
let  us  hope  the  hunting  fever  will  be  kept  up  in 


Mossoo  a  Cheval.  55 

healthy  fashion,  for  we  two  can  select  our  weather, 
and  we  are  not  afraid  of  our  reputation  if  we  drop 
out  before  the  finish.  This  kind  of  work  soon 
shakes  our  novices  into  the  saddle,  and  its  many- 
excellencies  far  outweigh  its  few  absurdities.  Let 
him  who  runs  it  down  try  rather  a  run  with  the 
pack  some  sunny  day.  If  he  does  not  find  it 
manly  sport,  and  stout  hearts  in  the  van  of  the 
field,  he  can  tell  us  why  thereafter.  The  outcome 
of  to-day's  riding  mania  is  well  ahead  of  the 
young  men's  billiard-playing  and  bar-drinking  of 
twenty  years  ago. 

XV. 

There  are  good  riders  in  every  land  and  in 
every  species  of  saddle.  Facts  are  the  best  ar- 
guments. The  North  American  Indian  and  the 
follower  of  the  Prophet  each  performs  his  prodi- 
gies of  horsemanship,  the  one  bareback  with 
hanging  leg,  the  other  in  a  peaked  saddle  with 
knee  all  but  rubbing  his  nose.  Whoso  has  laughed 
over  Leech's  sketches  of  Mossoo,  who  makes  a 
promenade  a  cheval,  or  indeed  has  watched  him 
in  the  Bois,  is  fain  to  doubt  that  a  Frenchman 
can  ride  well.  And  yet  he  does.  Was  not 
Baucher  the  father  of  fine  horsemanship  1  A 
rough  and  tumble,  plucky  rider,  or  one  who  is 
experienced  and  discreet  after  hounds  as  well,  is 
more  frequently  found  in  Great  Britain ;  a  highly 


56  Comparative  Enjoyment, 

skilled  equestrian  (is  the  author  nearing  a  hornet's 
nest  ?)  in  France,  or  elsewhere  across  the  Chan- 
nel. But  we  naturally  must  seek  the  Continental 
rider  in  the  camp,  for  is  not  the  Continent  itself 
one  vast  camp  ?  It  is  perhaps  hard  to  decide 
whether  the  cavalry  officer  who  is  master  of  the 
intricacies  of  the  manege  or  the  country  gentle- 
man who  has  won  a  reputation  with  the  Pytchley 
or  the  Belvoir  may  be  properly  called  the  more 
accomplished  horseman.  Each  in  his  place  is 
unequaled.  But  is  it  not  true,  that  the  former 
can  more  quickly  adapt  himself  to  the  habits  of 
hunting  than  the  latter  to  those  of  the  Haute 
Ecole  ?  And  do  not  the  methods  of  the  School 
give  us  more  capacity  for  enjoying  our  daily 
horseback  exercise,  than  any  amount  of  experi- 
ence with  hounds  ? 

XVI. 

It  is  sometimes  said  in  England  that  a  School- 
rider  reining  in  his  steed  never  looks  as  if  he 
were  having  a  thoroughly  good  time,  as  does  the 
man  who  lets  his  horse  go  his  own  inspiriting 
gait  along  the  road.  But  why  not.?  Is  inspira- 
tion only  found  in  excess  of  physical  motion }  If 
so,  to  use  an  exaggerated  comparison,  why  does 
not  Paddy  at  Donnybrook  Fair,  trailing  his  coat 
and  daring  some  one  to  tread  on  the  tail  of  it,  en- 
joy himself  more  thoroughly  than  the  man  who 


Comparative  Power.  57 

quietly  plays  a  game  of  chess  or  whist  ?  Or  to 
use  a  more  nearly  equal  simile,  may  not  a  man 
find  as  great  enjoyment  in  a  skilled  game  of  ten- 
nis, as  in  the  violent  rushes  of  foot-ball,  where 
two  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  mere  blubber 
will  assuredly  bear  down  all  the  prowess  and  apt- 
ness of  his  own  say  one  hundred  and  forty  ?  It 
is  as  certain  that  the  pleasure  of  riding  a  trained 
horse  is  greater  than  that  of  merely  sitting  a  vig- 
orously moving  untrained  one,  as  that  the  delight 
of  intellectual  study  exceeds  the  excitement  of 
trashy  reading.  Omne  ignotuin  pro  magnifico 
seems  not  to  be  uniformly  true,  for  riders  unfa- 
miliar with  the  training  of  the  High  School  al- 
most as  invariably  run  down  its  methods,  as  self- 
made  business  men  are  apt  to  discountenance  a 
college  education  as  a  preliminary  discipline  for 
the  struggles  of  life. 

It  is  a  fact  that  no  man  who  has  once  been  a 
School-rider  ever  abandons  either  the  knowledge 
he  has  gained  or  its  constant  practice.  No  one 
can  underrate  the  pleasure  of  simple  motion  upon 
a  vigorous  horse.  But  the  School-rider  has  this 
in  equal  degree  with  the  uneducated  horseman, 
coupled  with  a  feeling  of  control  and  power  and 
ability  to  perform  which  the  mere  man  on  horse- 
back never  attains.  Moreover,  all  the  powers  of 
the  School-rider's  horse  are  within  the  grasp  of 
his  hand ;  and  that  the  powers  of  the  high-strung 


58  Limit  of  School-Riding. 

steed  of  the  average  equestrian  are  all  too  often 
resident  mainly  in  the  animal  itself  is  shown  by 
the  chapter  of  accidents  daily  reiterated  in  the 
news-columns.  The  School-man  is  apt  to  ride 
more  moderately,  and  to  indulge  in  a  bracing  gal- 
lop less  frequently,  because  to  him  the  pleasure 
of  slow  and  rhythmic  movement  on  a  fleet  and 
able  horse  is  far  greater  than  mere  rapidity  can 
ever  be ;  the  untrained  rider  resorts  to  speed  be- 
cause this  is  the  one  exhilaration  within  the 
bounds  of  his  own  or  his  horse's  knowledge. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  advocating 
the  School  habit  of  always  keeping  a  horse  col- 
lected. However  much  for  some  purposes  I  ad- 
mire it,  I  do  not  practice  it  I  often  saunter  off 
a  half-dozen  miles  without  lifting  the  rein,  while 
Patroclus  wanders  at  his  own  sweet  will.  I  often 
trot  or  gallop  at  my  nag's  quite  unrestrained  gait. 
But  if  I  want  to  collect  him,  if  I  want  that  obedi- 
ence which  the  School  teaches  him  to  yield,  he 
must,  to  be  to  me  a  perfect  horse,  at  my  slightest 
intimation  give  himself  absolutely  to  my  control, 
and  take  all  his  art  from  me.  I  feel  that  I  am  a 
good  judge  of  either  habit  of  riding,  as  I  have 
well  tried  both,  and  absolutely  adhere  to  neither. 
I  pretend  by  no  means,  in  School-riding,  to  have 
carried  my  art  so  far  as  to  be  even  within  hail  of 
the  great  masters  of  equitation ;  but  I  have  not 
for  many  years  been  without  one  or  more  horses 


Patroclus  Browsing.  59 

educated  in  all  the  School  airs  which  are  applica- 
ble to  road-riding,  and  I  know  their  value  and  ap- 
preciate it. 

Because,  then,  the  cowboy  is  nowhere  in  the 
hunting-field;  or  because  the  hard-riding  squire 
and  M.  F.  H.  cannot  drop  to  the  further  side  of 
his  horse  while  he  shoots  at  his  galloping  enemy, 
or  pick  up  a  kerchief  from  the  ground  at  a  smart 
gallop ;  or  because  the  Frenchman  has  to  learn 
his  racing  trade  from  an  English  jockey,  it  will 
not  do  to  say  that  each  is  not  among  the  best  of 
horsemen,  or  that  either  is  better  than  the  other. 
The  style  of  riding  is  always  the  outgrowth  of 
certain  conditions  of  necessity  or  pleasure,  and 
invariably  fits  those  conditions  well.  With  us  in 
the  East  the  English  habit  is  no  doubt  the  most 
available  ;  but  it  can  only  be  made  the  test  of  our 
own  needs  or  fashions,  not  of  general  equestrian- 
ism. 

XVII. 

While  all  this  has  been  buzzing  through  your 
master's  brain,  you,  Patroclus,  knowing  full  well 
that  the  loosely  hanging  rein  has  meant  liberty 
within  reason  to  yourself,  have  wandered  away  to 
the  nearest  thicket,  and  begun  to  crop  the  tender 
leaves  and  shoots  as  peacefully  as  you  please. 
To  look  at  your  quiet  demeanor  at  this  moment 
one  would  scarcely  think  that  you  were  such  a 
bundle  of  nerves.     You  can  be  as  sedate  as  Ro- 


6o  A  Happy  Horse. 

sinante  till  called  upon.  But  when  the  bit  plays 
in  your  mouth,  you  are  as  full  of  life  and  action 
as  the  steeds  of  Diomed  with  flowing  manes. 
Your  eye  and  ear  are  an  index  to  your  mood,  and 
you  reflect  your  rider's  wish  in  every  step.  No 
man  ever  bestrode  a  more  generous  beast  than 
you.  Do  you  remember,  Patroclus,  the  days 
when  you  carried  your  little  twelve-year-old  mis- 
tress, and  how  her  first  lessons  in  fine  equitation 
were  taken  in  your  company?  And  cleverly  did 
she  learn  indeed.  Do  you  remember  how  we  used 
to  put  you  on  your  honor,  though  you  were  only  a 
five-year-old  and  dearly  loved  to  romp  and  play } 
Ay,  Patroclus,  and  fairly  did  you  answer  the  ap- 
peal !  With  the  gentle  burden  on  your  broad, 
strong  back,  her  golden-red  hair  streaming  be- 
hind her  in  the  breeze  from  under  her  jaunty  hat, 
you  would  have  ridden  through  fire,  my  beauty, 
rather  than  betray  your  trust.  However  tempted 
to  a  bound,  or  however  startled  at  some  fearsome 
thing,  one  word  —  a  "Quiet,  Pat!"  —  from  that 
soft  girlish  voice,  now  hushed  for  both  of  us, 
would  never  fail  to  keep  you  kind  and  steady. 
And  you  were  ever  willing,  with  even  more  than 
your  accustomed  alacrity,  to  perform  your  airs  at 
the  slightest  encouragement  of  the  soft  hands  and 
gentle  voice  ;  and  having  done  so  would  lay  back 
your  ears  and  shake  your  head  with  very  pleasure 
at  the  rippling  laughter  in  which  your  pretty  rid- 


Photography  vs.  Art.  6 1 

er's  thanks  were  wont  to  be  expressed.  I  knew, 
Patroclus,  that  in  your  care  the  Httle  maid  was 
quite  as  safe  as  with  her  doll  at  home. 

XVIII. 

And  now  a  word  about  the  horse  in  action,  as 
shown  by  instantaneous  photography,  and  about 
the  war  waged  between  artists  and  photographers. 
Some  disciples  of  Muybridge  would  fain  have  the 
artist  depict  an  animal  in  an  ungainly  attitude, 
because  the  lens  is  apt  to  catch  him  at  a  point  in 
his  stride  which  looks  ungainly,  there  being  many 
more  such  points  than  handsome  ones.  It  is  the 
moving  creature  which  we  admire.  The  poetry 
of  motion  is  rarely  better  seen  than  in  a  proudly 
stepping  horse.  But  arrest  that  motion  and  you 
are  apt  to  have  that  which  the  human  eye  can 
neither  recognize  nor  delight  itself  withal.  Ar- 
rested motion  rarely  suggests  the  actual  motion 
we  aim  to  depict.  The  lens  will  show  you  every 
spoke  of  a  rapidly  revolving  wheel,  as  if  at  rest. 
The  eye,  or  the  artist,  shows  you  a  blur  of  motion. 
And  so  with  other  objects.  The  lens  works  in  the 
hundredth  part  of  a  second  ;  the  eye  is  slower  far. 

To  a  certain  extent  photography,  quoad  art,  is 
wrong  and  the  limner  is  right.  There  are  some 
horses  which  possess  a  very  elegant  carriage.  In 
their  action  there  are  certain  periods  —  generally 
those  at  which  one  fore  and  one  hind  leg  are 


62  Suggestiveness  of  Art. 

slowing  up  at  the  limit  of  their  forward  stride  — 
when  the  eye  catches  an  agreeable  impression 
which  is  capable  of  being  reduced  to  canvas, — 
though  it  is  after  all  the  proud  motion  itself 
which  pleases,  and  this  can  only  be  suggested. 
Now,  photography  robs  you  of  almost  all  the  sug- 
gestiveness of  the  horse's  action,  unless  you  se- 
lect only  those  photographs  which  approach  the 
action  caught  by  the  human  eye.  Even  after 
long  study  of  the  Muybridge  silhouettes,  the  ar- 
tistic lover  of  the  horse  feels  that  he  must  reject 
all  but  a  small  percentage  of  these  wonderful 
anatomical  studies.  If  there  are  periods  in  the 
horse's  stride  which  are  agreeable  to  the  eye,  why 
should  the  artist  not  select  these  for  delineation  ? 
Why  indeed  does  his  art  not  bind  him  to  do  so  ? 

You,  Patroclus,  are  peculiarly  elegant  in  mo- 
tion. It  is  difficult  to  pick  a  flaw  in  the  sym- 
metry of  your  gaits.  Slow  or  fast,  fresh  or  tired, 
your  motion  is  always  proud  and  graceful.  And 
yet  out  of  many  photographs,  few  suggest  your 
action  at  all,  fewer  still  even  passably ;  none  con- 
vey to  its  full  extent  what  all  your  intimates  well 
know. 

To  photograph  well,  a  horse  must  have  a  good 
deal,  but  not  an  excessive  amount  of  action,  and 
with  unquestioned  grace  of  curves.     The  reason 


What  Horses  Photograph  Badly.  63 

why  horses  in  very  rapid  motion  photograph  illy 
is  to  be  found  in  the  too  extreme  curves  de- 
scribed by  their  legs  in  the  powerful  strides  of 
great  speed,  any  position  in  which,  arrested  by 
the  lens,  looks  exaggerated,  —  sprawling.  The 
reason  why,  on  the  other  hand,  the  photograph 
of  a  daisy-clipper  moving  slowly  looks  tame  is 
the  lack  of  action  to  suggest  the  motion  which 
the  eye  follows  in  real  life.  Many  of  the  best 
performers  are  plain  in  action.  Some  of  the 
most  faultless  movers,  so  far  as  results  or  form 
are  concerned,  even  when  agreeable  to  the  eye, 
will  show  unsightly  photographs.  Let  any  one 
who  desires  to  test  this  matter  have  a  half-dozen 
instantaneous  photographs  of  his  pet  saddle  beast 
taken.  He  will  surely  be  convinced  that  a  horse 
must  be  extremely  handsome  in  motion  to  give 
even  a  passable  portrait.  If  he  gets  one  picture 
in  four  which  shows  acceptably,  he  may  be  sure 
that  he  owns  a  good-looking  nag.  Among  the 
silhouettes  in  the  Stanford  Book,  scarcely  one  in 
twenty  shows  a  handsome  outline.  This  seems 
to  be  owing,  as  above  explained,  to  the  speed  ex- 
hibited in  almost  all  the  performances;  and  in 
the  slow  gaits,  to  the  want  of  action  in  the  sub- 
jects. Still,  if  the  pictures  had  shown  the  light 
and  shade  which  instantaneous  photography  is 
now  able  to  give,  many  of  the  plates  would  have 
made  artistic  pictures. 


64  Artists  Errors, 

There  are  certainly  many  minutice  in  which 
the  artist  can  learn  from  the  photograph.  To 
give  an  instance :  before  reaching  the  ground,  the 
leg  in  every  gait  must  be  stiffened,  and  the  bot- 
tom of  the  foot  brought  parallel  to  the  surface 
traveled  over,  or  a  stumble  will  ensue.  This,  at 
first  blush,  may  look  awkward ;  but  it  is  not 
really  so.  The  artist  often  forgets  that  a  horse 
must  sustain  his  weight  on  stiff  legs,  and  that 
these  straighten  from  their  graceful  curves  to 
the  supporting  position  in  regular  gradation,  and 
reach  this  position  just  before  the  foot  comes 
down.  Some  in  other  respects  most  attractive 
sketches  fail  in  this.  Often  one  sees  the  picture 
of  an  otherwise  handsomely  moving  horse  whose 
fetlock  joint  of  the  foot  just  being  planted  is  so 
bent  forward  as  to  make  a  drop  inevitable.  This 
is  certainly  without  the  domain  of  true  art. 

The  origin  of  such  drawing  lies  probably  in 
the  fact  that  the  eye  catches  the  bent  rather  than 
the  straight  position  of  the  fetlock,  because  the 
former  occurs  when  the  foot  is  higher  above  the 
ground,  while  the  latter  position  is  not  so  notice- 
able as  being  more  out  of  the  line  of  sight.  But 
such  stumbling  pictures  are  as  much  a  worry  to 
the  horseman's  eye  as  the  ugliest  of  the  Muy- 
bridge  gallopers  is  to  the  artist's;  and  they  are 
wholly  unnecessary. 

There  are   many  such  minor  points  of  criti- 


LeecJis  Running  Horse.  65 

cism  of  the  usual  artistic  work,  which  the  artists 
should  not  deem  beyond  consideration.  It  is 
quite  possible  to  make  the  truthful  and  the  ar- 
tistic go  hand  in  hand. 

Except,  perhaps,  in  the  gallop.  This  most  dis- 
heartening gait  will  not  be  reduced  to  what  we 
have  been  taught  to  like.  There  is  but  one  of  the 
five  "  times  "  of  the  gallop  which  suggests  even 
tolerable  speed,  —  the  one  when  all  four  feet  are 
in  the  air  and  gathered  well  under  the  horse.  At 
the  instant  when  one  of  the  hind  legs  is  reaching 
forward  to  land,  there  is  sometimes  a  suggestion 
of  great  speed  and  vigor.  But  the  successive 
stilted  strides  when  the  straightened  legs  in  turn 
assume  the  body's  weight  oppress  the  very  soul 
of  the  lover  of  the  Racing  Plates.  It  must  fain 
be  left  to  the  wisest  heads,  and  perhaps  better  to 
time,  to  bring  daylight  from  this  darkness. 

The  late  John  Leech,  as  far  back  as  the  forties, 
essayed  to  draw  running  horses  as  his  very  keen 
eye  showed  him  that  they  really  looked ;  but  he 
was  laughed  out  of  the  idea,  and  thenceforth 
stuck  to  the  artist's  quadruped,  though  he  had 
been,  in  his  new  departure,  much  more  nearly  ap- 
proaching anatomy  than  any  one  was  then  aware. 
And  thirty  years  ago,  on  Epsom  Downs,  it  was 
revealed  to  the  author,  as  it  has  no  doubt  been  to 
thousands  of  others,  that  it  is  the  gathered  and 
not  the  spread  position  of  the  racer  which  is 


66  Spread-Eagle  Run. 

impressed  upon  the  eye.  This  is  most  clearly 
shown  by  watching  the  distant  horses  through  a 
glass.  But  still  we  stick  to  the  anatomically  im- 
possible spread-eagle  stride  of  the  turf,  and  feel 
that  it  conveys  the  idea  of  speed  which  is  not 
compassed  by  the  SQ.i  facsimiles  of  photography. 

It  has  been  alleged  that  a  horse  never  does,  nor 
can  take  the  spread  position  of  the  typical  racer 
of  the  artist.  This  is  true  enough,  for  he  never 
does  extend  himself  to  so  great  a  degree.  But 
at  one  part  of  the  leap  he  may  do  this  very  thing, 
though  by  no  means  to  the  extent  usually  de- 
picted (see  Plate  XL).  It  is,  however,  certain  that 
he  cannot  do  so  at  all  in  the  gallop.  At  the  only 
time  when  all  his  feet  are  off  the  ground  in  this 
gait,  they  are  all  close  together  under  his  girths. 
At  all  other  times  there  are  one  or  more  feet  on 
the  ground,  with  legs  straight,  and  at  greater 
or  less  inclination  to  the  body.  From  front  to 
rear  the  legs  move  almost  like  the  spokes  of  a 
wheel.  What  the  pictures  of  the  turf  in  the  fu- 
ture may  be  it  is  hard  indeed  to  say. 

And  yet,  the  longer  one  examines  the  many 
hundred  silhouettes  of  running  horses,  so  well 
grouped  for  anatomical  study  in  the  Stanford 
Book,  the  more  reconciled  to  what  there  is  of 
truth  in  them  one  may  become.  Many  years  ago, 
I  sat  during  the  forenoon  in  the  Turner  Room  of 
the  National  Gallery  in  London,  in  the  company 


The  Muybridge  Run.  67 

of  a  friend,  herself  no  mean  artist,  and  of  de- 
cidedly strong  artistic  taste  and  correct  judgment, 
whose  ideas  of  Turner  had  been  founded  solely 
on  what  she  had  read,  or  seen  and  heard  in  Amer- 
ica, and  whose  prejudice  against  his  apparently 
overwrought  work  was  excessive.  For  a  full  hour 
few  words  were  passed.  Then,  rising  to  go :  "  If 
I  sit  here  any  longer,  I  shall  end  by  liking  the 
man  !  "  quoth  she. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  power  in  these  Muy- 
bridge photographs  grows  upon  you.  It  is  uni- 
versally acknowledged  that  one  does  not  see  the 
running  horse  as  he  is  usually  drawn ;  in  other 
words,  that  the  artist's  run  is  incorrect.  Now,  if 
the  retina  has  anything  impressed  upon  it,  it  must 
assuredly  be  either  one  of  the  positions  actually 
taken  by  the  galloping  animal,  or  else  a  mere  blur 
of  motion.  The  artist  draws  a  blurred  wheel  be- 
cause he  sees  it  blurred,  and  it  suggests  rapid  mo- 
tion. But  he  will  not  draw  blurred  legs,  because 
such  drawing  will  not  suggest  what  he  desires  to 
convey  in  his  picture.  And  yet,  if  he  is  true  to 
what  his  eye  has  seen,  he  must  draw  some  of  the 
positions  the  horse  has  been  in,  and  not  positions 
which  he  cannot  by  any  possibility  have  passed 
through  in  this  gait.  I  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  eye  catches  the  gathered  positions,  and  these 
are  the  ones  in  which  the  horse  is  entirely  in  the 
air,  with  his  legs  under  his  girths,  and  with  hind 


68  What  should  Artists  do  ? 

feet  reaching  forward  to  land.  Why  should  not 
the  artist  draw  these  positions,  in  their  thousand 
variations,  in  lieu  of  the  one  single  impossible  po- 
sition now  universally  in  vogue  ?  Without  alleg- 
ing that  he  should  do  so,  will  the  artist  tell  me 
why  he  should  not  ?  For  unless  it  be  assumed 
that  the  usually  drawn  position  is  a  sort  of  geo- 
metrical resultant  of  the  rapid  series  of  positions 
passed  through,  and  is  hence  adopted  because  the 
eye  mathematically  and  unconsciously  reduces 
these  positions  to  the  resultant,  where  is  the  truth 
which  the  artist  aims  to  produce  ?  For  I  under- 
stand art  to  be  the  reproduction  of  what  the  eye 
can  see,  or  at  least  its  close  suggestion.  And 
though  there  may  be  room  to  doubt  what  the  eye 
may  see,  there  is  no  room  to  doubt  what  the 
horse  actually  does  in  the  gallop. 

It  is  probable  that  the  spread-eagle  position  is 
a  mere  outgrowth  of  the  canter,  which  in  a  slight 
degree  approximates  to  the  action  of  the  artist's 
run,  and  that  the  latter  has  been  exaggerated  as  a 
means  of  conveying  the  idea  of  increased  speed. 
I  have  yet  heard  no  allegation  that  the  eye 
catches  any  but  the  gathering  positions  of  the 
horse's  gallop.  Now,  given  this,  given  an  artist 
equal  to  and  interested  in  the  task,  and  the  ana- 
tomical results  of  photography,  and  it  would  seem 
as  if  a  sincere  desire  to  reconcile  the  eye  with  po- 
sitions which  the  retina  must  certainly  catch  as 


A  Sensitive  Mouth.  69 

the  horse  bounds  by  might  evoke  more  satisfac- 
tory results.  Here  is  a  life-work  worthy  of  the 
best  of  animal  painters.  Who  will  take  it  up.f* 
I  plead  for  "  more  light." 

XIX. 

To  return  to  our  muttons,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
aver  that  any  well-trained  horse  knows  much  more 
than  the  average  good  equestrian.  It  requires  a 
light  and  practiced  hand  to  evoke  Patroclus' 
highest  powers.  He  has  never  refused  an  obsta- 
cle with  his  master,  or  failed  to  clear  what  he 
fairly  went  at.  But  the  least  uncertainty  be- 
trayed in  the  hand,  and  Patroclus  knows  some- 
thing is  wrong,  and  acts  accordingly. 

I  learned  a  good  lesson  about  spoiling  him 
for  my  own  comfort  not  long  ago,  when  asked  the 
privilege  of  riding  him  over  a  few  hurdles  on  my 
lawn  by  a  friend  who  had  an  excellent  seat  in  the 
saddle,  but  liked,  and  had  been  used  to  a  horse 
who  seized  hold  of  the  bridle.  Patroclus  took 
the  first,  but  to  my  own  and  my  friend's  surprise 
quite  refused  the  second,  and  could  by  no  means 
be  persuaded  to  face  it.  On  my  friend's  yielding 
me  the  saddle,  I  mounted,  and  walked  Patroclus 
up  to  the  hurdle  with  a  firm  word  of  encourage- 
ment ;  and  though  he  wavered,  he  took  it  on  a 
standing  jump.  The  slight  reward  of  a  tuft  of 
grass  and  a  pat  made  him  do  better  on  the  second 


70  "  Perfectly  Trained^ 

trial,  but  for  weeks  afterwards  he  was  nervous  at 
that  particular  hurdle,  though  at  anything  else  he 
went  with  his  accustomed  nerve.  My  friend  and 
I  were  both  unaware  of  how  his  hands  had  erred, 
but  the  horse's  fine  mouth  had  felt  it. 

Patroclus  is  essentially  a  one-man  horse.  He 
will  always  serve  well  for  the  wage  of  kindness, 
but  it  would  take  a  hard  taskmaster  but  a  short 
week  to  transform  him  into  the  semblance  of  the 
Biblical  wild  ass's  colt.  He  will  change  his  gaits 
at  will  from  any  one  to  any  other.  But  his  rider's 
hands  must  be  steady  and  as  skilled  as  his  own 
soft  mouth,  or  how  can  the  lesser  mind  compre- 
hend .f*  He  may,  at  the  bidding  of  uncertain  reins, 
change  from  gait  to  gait  and  foot  to  foot,  seeking 
to  satisfy  his  ignorant  rider,  who,  meanwhile,  un- 
able to  catch  his  meaning,  will  dub  him  a  stupid, 
restless  brute.  A  well-trained  horse  needs  an 
equally  well-trained  rider. 

XX. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  "  perfectly  trained " 
saddle  horses.  One  is  the  well-drilled  cow  of  the 
riding-schools,  fit  only  to  give  instruction  to  class 
after  class  of  beginners,  and  who  is  safe  because 
worked  beyond  his  courage  and  endurance.  The 
other  is  the  School-horse,  of  perfect  vigor  and 
fine  manners,  who  is  obedient  to  the  slightest 
whim  of  the  clever  rider,  but  who  is  so  entire  an 


Bauchers  Horse.  71 

enigma  to  the  untrained  one,  that  he  is  unable  to 
ride  him  at  even  his  quiet  gaits. 

One  of  my  friends  in  Touraine  used  in  his 
youth  to  be  a  pupil  of  the  famous  Baucher.  He 
once  told  me  how,  at  the  instigation  of  his  class- 
mates, he  begged  hard  for  many  days  to  be  al- 
lowed to  ride  the  master's  favorite  horse,  with 
whom  he  was  apt  to  join  his  higher  classes.  My 
friend  flattered  himself  that  he  could  manage  any 
horse,  as  he  had  long  ridden  under  Baucher's  in- 
struction. As  an  example  to  the  class,  the  master 
finally  gave  way.  But  the  experiment  was  short. 
My  friend  soon  found  that  he  was  so  much  less 
accomplished  than  the  high-strung  beast  that  he 
was  utterly  unable  to  manage  or  control  him, 
much  less  to  perform  any  of  the  School  airs,  and 
he  was  by  no  means  sorry  when  his  feat  of  equi- 
tation was  terminated  by  so  dangerous  a  rear  that 
Baucher  deemed  it  wise  to  come  to  the  rescue. 
My  friend's  hands,  though  well  drilled,  were  so 
much  less  delicate  than  the  horse's  mouth,  that 
the  latter  had  at  first  mistaken  some  peculiar  un- 
steadiness as  the  indication  for  a  pirouette,  to 
which  he  had  obediently  risen ;  but  then,  on  feel- 
ing some  additional  unsteadiness  of  the  reins,  he 
had,  in  his  uncertainty  and  confusion,  reared  quite 
beyond  control.  Yet  under  the  master  this  horse's 
habit  of  obedience  was  so  confirmed  that  he  was 
apparently  as  moderate  as  any  courageous  horse 


72  An'alf  and'alfunter. 

should   be,  though  actually  of  a   hyper-nervous 
character. 

Nothing  but  time  will  make  a  thorough  horse- 
man ;  but  a  few  months  will  make  a  tolerable 
horseman  of  any  man  who  has  strength,  courage, 
intelligence,  and  good  temper.  If  a  man  confines 
his  ambition  to  a  horse  whom  he  can  walk,  trot, 
and  canter  on  the  road  in  an  unbalanced  manner, 
and  who  will  jump  an  ordinary  obstacle,  so  as 
to  follow  the  hounds  over  easy  country,  it  needs 
but  little  time  and  patience  to  break  in  both  man 
and  beast  to  this  simple  work.  If  a  man  wants 
what  the  High  School  calls  a  saddle  beast,  a  full 
half  year's  daily  training  is  essential  for  the  horse, 
and  to  give  this  the  man  must  have  had  quite 
thrice  as  much  himself.  Fix  the  standard  at  an 
'alf  and  'alf  'unter  and  your  requirements  are 
soon  met.  Raise  the  standard  of  education  to  a 
horse  well-balanced,  who  is  always  ready  to  be 
collected  and  always  alert  to  his  rider's  wants  and 
moods,  and  who  can  do  any  work  well,  and  you 
need  much  more  in  both  teacher,  pupil,  and  rider. 
No  horse  can  be  alike  perfect  in  the  field  and  in 
the  park.  But  the  well-trained  road  horse  can 
always  hunt  within  the  bounds  prescribed  by  his 
condition,  speed,  and  jumping  ability;  the  finest 
hunter  is  apt  to  be  either  a  nuisance  on  the  road 
or  too  valuable  for  such  daily  work.  It  will  not 
do  to  quote  this  as  an  invariable  rule.  But  it  cer- 
tainly has  few  exceptions. 


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^^^^^^^^P^^^V  i.^  ^B 

Plate  VII. 


RISING   AT   A    HURDLE. 


Tom  and  Penelope.  73 

Moreover,  a  hunter  requires  many  weeks  to  be 
got  into  fine  condition,  and  can  then  perform  well 
not  exceeding  half  a  dozen  days  a  month,  and 
needs  a  long  rest  after  the  season.  And  it  is  not 
the  average  man  who  is  happy  enough  to  own  a 
stable  so  full  or  to  boast  such  ample  leisure  as  to 
tax  his  horseflesh  to  so  very  slight  an  extent. 

XXL 

But  what  is  that,  Patroclus?  Up  goes  your 
head,  your  lively  ears  pricked  out,  with  an  inquis- 
itive low-voiced  whinny.  What  is  it  you  sniff 
upon  the  softly-moving  air.?  Well,  well,  I  know. 
That  neigh  and  again  a  neigh  betrays  you.  As 
sure  as  fate  it  is  one  of  your  stable-mates  coming 
along  the  road.  Perhaps  our  young  friend  Tom, 
upon  his  new  purchase,  Penelope.  We  will  go 
and  see,  at  all  events.  I  never  found  you  wrong, 
and  I  never  knew  your  delicate  nose  to  fail  to 
sniff  a  friend  before  the  eye  could  catch  him,  or 
your  pleasant  whinny  fail  to  speak  what  you  had 
guessed  as  well.  Sure  enough,  there  he  comes 
and  Nell  has  heard  you  too.  Both  Tom  and 
she  are  out  for  the  lesson  which  either  gives  the 
other.  Now  for  a  sociable  tramp  and  chat  in  the 
company  you  like  so  well.  And  you  and  I  will 
try  to  give  Penelope  and  Master  Tom  a  few  hints 
which  he  has  often  asked,  and  of  which  all  young 
horses  and  riders  are  apt  to  stand  in  need. 


74  Uses  of  Riding-Schools. 

XXII. 

Good-morrow,  Tom,  and  how  are  you,  sleek 
Nelly  ?  A  fine  day  this  for  a  tramp.  Patroclus 
sniffed  you  a  long  way  off,  and  now  is  happy  to 
rub  his  nose  on  Nelly's  neck,  while  she,  forsooth, 
much  as  she  likes  the  delicate  attention,  lays  back 
her  ears  with  a  touch-me-not  expression  charac- 
teristic of  the  high-bred  of  her  sex.  A  lucky  dog 
are  you  to  throw  your  leg  across  such  a  dainty 
bit  of  blood ! 

You,  Tom,  are  one  of  numberless  young  men 
who  want  to  learn  that  which  they  have  not  the 
patience  to  study  out  of  technical  books  and  will 
hardly  acquire  in  a  riding-school ;  who,  in  other 
words,  rather  than  learn  on  tan-bark,  have  pre- 
ferred to  purchase  a  horse  and  teach  themselves. 
A  man  may  do  well  in  a  school  or  on  a  horse 
hired  in  a  school,  and  yet  not  know  how  to  begin 
the  training  of  a  horse  which  has  been  only 
broken  in  to  drive,  as  most  of  our  American  colts 
are,  however  eager  to  improve  him  for  the  saddle. 
Let  us  compare  notes  as  we  saunter  along  the 
road. 

Do  not  understand  me  to  depreciate  the  value 
of  riding-schools,  nor  the  training  which  they  in- 
culcate. On  the  contrary.  School-training  carried 
far  enough  and  properly  given  is  just  what  I  do 
advocate.     But    between    the   riding-school   and 


Learn  the  Art  Yourself,  75 

School-riding,  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  The 
capital  letter  is  advisedly  used.  A  horse  which 
has  been  given  a  good  mouth,  and  has  been 
taught  as  far  as  the  volte  and  demi-volte,  simple 
and  reversed  (though  indeed  the  riding-school 
volte  and  the  volte  of  the  Haute  Ecole  are  differ- 
ent things),  certainly  knows  a  fairish  amount,  and 
may  be  able  to  teach  his  rider  much  of  what  he 
knows.  But  riding  in  a  school  is  not  road-riding, 
although  a  school-horse  may  have  profited  well 
by  his  education.  Leaping  a  school  hurdle  is  not 
riding  to  hounds.  A  thoroughly  good  riding- 
school  horse  may  be  a  very  brute  when  in  the 
park.  Perfect  manners  within  four  walls  may 
disappear  so  soon  as  the  horse  gets  a  clear  mile 
ahead  of  him.  Assuredly,  it  is  well  enough  to 
learn  the  rudiments  at  a  good  riding-school.  But 
if  you  ever  want  to  become  a  thorough  horseman 
and  have  equally  good  horses,  study  the  art  for 
yourself,  —  there  is  no  mystery  about  it,  —  and 
learn  what  a  horse  should  know  and  how  to  teach 
him.  When  you  have  done  this,  you  will  have  a 
satisfactory  saddle  beast.  If  you  expect  a  groom 
or  a  riding-school  master  to  train  your  horses  for 
you,  you  will  not  have  a  perfect  mouth  or  good 
manners  once  in  a  hundred  times.  If  the  master 
is  expert,  he  will  be  too  busy  to  do  your  horses 
full  justice  short  of  an  exorbitant  honorarium. 
The  groom  is,  as  a  rule,  both  ignorant  and  impa- 
tient, if  not  brutal. 


76  Value  of  Schooling. 

XXIII. 

I  know  of  no  better  foundation  for  a  man  to 
begin  upon  than  the  breaking-in  to  harness, 
which  an  American  horse  has  usually  received  at 
the  hands  of  an  intelligent  farmer,  before  he  is 
brought  to  the  city  for  sale.  Starting  with  the 
horse,  then,  say  at  five  years  old,  if  you  will 
learn  how  to  give  him  his  saddle  education,  and 
do  it  yourself,  you  will  have,  in  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  hundred,  a  better  saddle  beast  in  six 
months  than  any  groom  can,  or  any  riding-master 
is  apt  to  make. 

There  is  somewhat  of  a  tendency  among  the 
English,  and  much  more  among  their  American 
imitators,  to  decry  as  unnecessary  the  training  of 
horses  beyond  a  mouth  somewhat  short  of  leather 
and  two  or  three  easy  road  gaits ;  or,  in  hunters, 
the  capacity  to  do  well  cross-country.  But  there 
is  vastly  more  to  be  said  on  the  side  of  High 
School  training.  By  a  three  months'  School 
course  stubborn  horses  may  be  made  tractable, 
dangerous  horses  rendered  comparatively  safe, 
uncomfortable  brutes  easy  and  reliable.  Vices 
may  be  cured,  stumbling  may  be  made  far  less 
dangerous,  if  the  habit  cannot  be  eradicated, 
physical  defects,  unfitting  a  horse  for  saddle  work, 
may  often  be  overcome,  and  the  general  utility  of 
the  average  horse  vastly  increased.     All  this,  and 


Sixth  U.  S.  Cavalry.  77 

much  more,  may  be  done,  without  touching  upon 
the  gain  in  ease  to  the  rider,  the  pleasure  to  be 
derived  when  both  man  and  beast  are  enabled  to 
work  in  unison,  the  ability  schooling  gives  to  the 
weakest  hand  to  hold  the  most  high-strung  horse, 
and  the  great  variety  of  motions,  speeds,  and 
paces  which  may  be  taught  to  subserve  the  com- 
fort and  delight  of  the  rider.  Whoso  will  claim 
that  the  reader  of  the  last  French  play  enjoys  as 
great  a  privilege  and  pleasure  as  the  student  of 
Hamlet,  or  that  the  day  laborer  is  the  equal  of  the 
skilled  artisan,  may  deny  the  utility  of  schooling 
the  horse  for  saddle-work.  No  reference  is  here 
intended  to  be  made  to  racing-stock,  or  to  hunt- 
ers kept  as  such.  These  stand  in  a  class  by  them- 
selves, requiring  different  aptitudes  and  treatment. 
An  interesting  proof  of  the  general  value  of 
training  has  been  recently  developed  in  the  Sixth 
U.  S.  Cavalry,  stationed  in  New  Mexico.  In 
some  of  the  troops  the  horses  have  been  drilled 
to  lie  down  and  allow  the  men  to  fire  over  them, 
—  a  most  valuable  bit  of  discipline,  peculiarly 
suited  to  Indian  warfare.  From  the  course  of 
training  necessary  to  bring  about  this  end  has  re- 
sulted an  unexpected  but  very  natural  docility  in 
the  horses,  which  are  Californian  bronchos,  and  a 
poor  class  of  animal.  Horses  formerly  considered 
dangerous  have  become  quite  gentle,  and  the  en- 
tire condition  of  the  command  has  been  changed. 


78  Books  on  Equitation. 

So  far  as  the  belief  goes  that  what  are  called 
the  High  School  airs  are  unessential,  it  is  easy  to 
agree  with  the  English  opinion  ;  but  it  is  clear 
that  the  saddle  horse  should  have  far  more  train- 
ing than  he  generally  receives  in  England,  and 
certainly  than  he  receives  here.  It  would  seem 
that  the  better  position  lies  midway  between  the 
Haute  Ecole  of  the  Continent  and  the  half  and 
half  training  of  Great  Britain. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  there  are  not 
many  beautifully  trained  saddle  beasts  in  Eng- 
land. You  see  in  Rotten  Row,  among  a  vast  lot 
of  brutes,  probably  more  fine  mounts  than  you 
will  find  in  any  other  known  resort  of  fashion, 
more  than  anywhere  in  the  world  outside  of  cav- 
alry barracks.  But  the  ordinary  run  of  English 
hacks  are  taught  to  trot  and  canter,  and  there 
their  training  ceases.  And  so  entirely  is  the  ed- 
ucation of  horses  left  to  grooms  and  riding-mas- 
ters, that  even  the  most  elaborate  English  works 
on  equitation,  while  they  say  that  a  horse  should 
be  taught  to  do  thus  and  so,  and  give  excellent 
instructions  for  riding  a  trained  horse,  afford  no 
clue  to  the  means  of  training.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  High  School  manuals  go  far  beyond 
what  most  men  have  patience  to  follow  or  a  de- 
sire to  learn,  excellent  as  such  an  education  may 
be  for  both  horse  and  rider. 

I  should  be  sorry  indeed  to  be  understood  to 


English  Horsemanship.  79 

underrate  the  horsemanship  of  England.  I  do 
not  suppose  that  the  excellence  and  universality 
of  the  equestrianism  of  Englishmen  has  any  more 
sincere  admirer  than  myself.  But  it  is  true  that 
equitation  as  an  art  exists  only  among  the  mili- 
tary experts  of  the  Old  Country,  and  that  the 
training  of  English  horses  is  not  carried  beyond 
bare  mediocrity  among  civilians  for  road-work. 
For  racing  or  hunting,  the  English  system  is  per- 
fect. The  burden  of  my  song  is  that  we  Amer- 
icans shall  not  too  closely  imitate  one  single 
English  style  for  all  purposes.  If  we  will  truly 
imitate  the  best  English  methods,  each  in  its 
appropriate  place,  and  not  pattern  ourselves  solely 
on  the  fox-hunting  type,  we  shall  do  well  enough ; 
though  in  riding,  as  in  all  the  arts,  it  is  wisest,  as 
well  as  most  American,  to  look  for  models  in 
every  direction,  and  select  the  best  to  follow. 
What  I  wish  to  protest  against  is  the  dragging 
of  the  hunting-field  into  the  park,  and  what  I 
wish  to  urge  is  the  higher  education  of  —  horses. 
One  has  only  to  go  back  to  the  thirties  in  Eng- 
land to  find  all  the  niceties  of  the  Haute  Ecole  in 
full  bloom.  Not  only  the  young  swells,  but  the 
old  politicians  and  the  celebrated  generals,  used 
used  to  go  "  titupping "  down  the  Row,  pas- 
saging, traversing,  and  piaffing  to  the  admiration 
of  all  beholders.  But  the  age  which,  in  the  race 
for  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  has 


8o  Lost  Courtesies. 

brought  about  simplicity  in  men's  dress,  and  has 
reduced  oratory  to  mere  conversation ;  which  has 
given  the  layman  the  right  to  abuse  the  church, 
and  the  costermonger  the  privilege  of  running 
down  royalty,  has  changed  all  this.  And  as  we 
have  doubtless  gone  too  far  in  many  directions,  in 
our  desire  to  make  all  men  free  and  equal,  may 
we  not  have  also  gone  too  far  in  discarding  some 
of  the  refinements  of  equestrianism  ?  And  is  it 
not  true,  and  pity,  that  the  old-fashioned  outward 
courtesy  to  women  (for  the  courtesy  of  the  heart, 
Dieu  Tnerci,  always  remains  to  us),  whose  decrease 
is  unhappily  so  apparent  to-day,  and  among  the 
young  is  being  supplanted  by  a  mere  camaraderie^ 
is  being  swept  from  our  midst  by  the  same  revul- 
sion towards  the  extremely  practical,  which  has 
discarded  the  beruffled  formalities  of  our  forebears 
and  the  high  airs  of  equitation  ? 

We  have,  in  the  East,  been  so  imbued  with  an 
imitative  mania  of  the  hunting  style  of  England, 
that  if  one  rides  a  horse  on  any  other  than  an 
open,  or  indeed  an  all  but  disjointed  walk,  trot,  or 
canter,  he  is  thought  to  be  putting  on  airs,  in 
much  the  same  measure  as  if  he  should  dress  in 
an  unwarranted  extreme  of  fashion  upon  the 
street.  But  if  we  are  to  ape  the  English,  why  not 
permit  on  Commonwealth  Avenue  —  or  by  and 
by,  we  trust,  the  Park  —  what  is  daily  seen  in 
Rotten  Row  ?     No  one  who   has   tasted  it  can 


The  Park-Hack.  8i 

deny  the  exhilarating  pleasure  given  you  by  a 
horse  who  is  fresh  enough  to  bound  out  of  the 
road  at  any  instant,  who  conveys  to  you  in  every 
stride  that  glorious  sense  of  power  which  only  a 
generous  heart  as  well  as  supple  muscles  ever 
yield,  and  who  is  yet  well  enough  schooled  to 
rein  down  to  a  five-mile  canter,  with  his  haunches 
well  under  him ;  while,  though  he  is  burning 
with  eagerness  to  plunge  into  a  gallop,  he  curbs 
his  ambition  to  your  mood,  and  rocks  you  in  the 
saddle  with  that  gentle  combination  of  strength 
and  ease  to  which  an  uneducated  gait  is  no  more 
to  be  compared  than  Pierce's  cider  (good  as  it  is 
in  its  place)  to  Mumm's  Cordon  Rouge.  When 
one  is  riding  for  the  pleasure  of  riding,  why  not 
use  all  the  art  which  will  add  zest  to  your  pleas- 
ure, rather  than  aim  to  give  the  impression  that 
you  are  sauntering  to  cover,  well  ahead  of  time, 
and  don't  want  to  tire  your  horse,  because  you 
expect  to  tax  him  severely  during  the  day  with 
the  Myopia  beagles  across  the  pretty  country 
near  Weld  Farm  ? 

A  celebrated  English  horseman  says :  "  The 
park-hack  should  have,  with  perfection  of  grace- 
ful form,  graceful  action,  an  exquisite  mouth,  and 
perfect  manners."  "  He  must  be  intelligent,  for 
without  intelligence  even  with  fine  form  and  ac- 
tion he  can  never  be  pleasant  to  ride."  "  The 
head  should  be  of  the  finest  Oriental  type ;  the 


82  An  Excellent  Manual. 

neck  well  arched,  but  not  too  long."  "  The  head 
should  be  carried  in  its  right  place,  the  neck 
gracefully  arched.  From  the  walk  he  should  be 
able  to  bound  into  any  pace,  in  perfectly  bal- 
anced action,  that  the  rider  may  require."  And 
yet  such  a  horse,  though  esteemed  a  prize  in 
Rotten  Row,  would  be  all  but  tabooed  on  the 
streets  of  Boston,  because  he  is  not  the  type  of  a 
fine  performer  to  hounds. 

XXIV. 

There  are  so  many  manuals  of  the  equestrian 
art  from  which  any  aspiring  and  patient  student 
of  equitation  may  derive  the  information  requisite 
to  become  an  expert  horseman,  that  beyond  a  few 
hints  for  the  benefit  of  those  who,  like  you,  Tom, 
know  nothing  and  want  to  learn  a  little  about  the 
niceties  of  horseback  work,  it  would  be  pre- 
sumptuous to  go.  If  a  man  desires  to  learn  how 
to  train  a  horse  thoroughly,  he  must  go  back  to 
Baucher,  or  to  some  of  Baucher's  pupils.  All 
the  larger  works  which  cover  training  contain  the 
elements  of  the  Baucher  system.  The  recent 
work  of  Colonel  E.  L.  Anderson,  late  of  General 
George  H.  Thomas'  staff,  written  in  England  and 
published  by  David  Douglas  of  Edinburgh,  is  a 
most  excellent  work. 

I  have  found  as  a  rule  that  abstruse  written  ex- 
planations are  very  difficult  to  understand.     In  a 


Proper  Result  of  Schooling.  83 

recent  excellent  book  on  riding-school  training 
(not  School-riding  mind  you),  though  I  know  per- 
fectly well  what  the  riding-school  volte  and  demi- 
volte  are,  as  well  as  the  School-volte  and  demi- 
volte,  simple  and  reversed,  I  have  read  certain 
paragraphs  dozens  of  times,  without  being  able  to 
make  the  words  mean  what  the  movement  really 
is.  Colonel  Anderson's  book  is  very  clear,  though 
it  goes  fully  into  the  refinements  of  the  art,  ex- 
cept the  quasi-circus  tricks  and  airs,  and  from  it, 
with  time  and  patience,  a  man  can  make  himself 
an  accomplished  rider  and  his  steed  equal  to  any 
work  —  outside  the  sawdust  ring. 

But  you,  Tom,  do  not  aspire  to  go  so  far  in  the 
training  of  Penelope. 

XXV. 

You  must  not  suppose  that  a  man  who  teaches 
his  horse  all  the  airs  of  the  Haute  Ecole  con- 
stantly uses  them,  any  more  than  an  eminent  di- 
vine is  always  in  the  act  of  preaching,  or  2i  prima 
donna  assoluta  is  at  all  times  warbling  or  prac- 
ticing chromatic  scales,  when  each  ought  to  be 
engaged  in  the  necessary  but  prosaic  details  of 
life.  The  best  results  of  School  training  lie  in 
the  ability  of  the  horse  and  rider  to  do  plain  and 
simple  work  in  the  best  manner.  Because  a 
horse  can  traverse  or  perform  the  Spanish  trot, 
his  rider  need  not  necessarily  make  him  traverse 


84  Uses  of  Schooling. 

or  passage  past  the  window  of  his  inamorata, 
while  he  himself  salutes  her  with  the  air  of  a 
grandee  of  Aragon.  For  this  would  no  doubt 
be  bad  style  for  a  modern  horseman  in  front  of  a 
Beacon  Street  mansion ;  though  truly  it  might 
be  eminently  proper,  as  well  as  an  interesting  dis- 
play of  horsemanship,  for  the  same  rider  to  trav- 
erse past  his  commanding  general  while  saluting 
at  a  review  on  Boston  Common.  Nor  because  a 
horse  can  perform  the  reversed  pirouette  with 
perfect  exactness  will  a  School-rider  stop  in  the 
middle  of  a  park  road  and  parade  the  accomplish- 
ment. But  this  same  reversed  pirouette  is  for 
all  that  the  foundation  of  everything  that  a  well- 
trained  horse  should  be  able  to  do,  and  if  he 
knows  it,  he  is  ready  to  make  use  of  it  at  all 
times  for  the  greater  ease,  safety,  and  pleasure  of 
his  master. 

You  may  ask  of  what  use  it  can  ever  be.  Sup- 
pose you  were  riding  with  a  lady,  on  her  left,  — 
which  is  the  safe  and  proper,  if  not  the  fashionable 
side,  —  and  her  saddle  should  begin  to  turn,  say 
toward  you,  as  it  is  most  apt  to  do.  If  your  horse 
minds  the  indication  of  your  leg,  you  can  keep 
him  so  close  to  your  companion's  as  to  afford  her 
suitable  assistance,  even  to  the  extent  of  bodily 
lifting  her  clear  of  her  saddle.  If  your  horse  is 
only  half  trained,  you  cannot,  perhaps,  bring  him 
to  the  position  where  you  want  him  in  season  to 


Plate  VIII. 


FLYING   A    HURDLE. 


opening  a  Gate.  85 

be  of  any  service  at  all.  Have  you  never  seen  a 
man  who  was  trying  to  open  a  gate  at  which  a 
score  of  impatient,  not  to  say  objurgatory,  riders 
were  waiting,  while  the  field  was  disappearing 
over  the  hills  and  far  away,  and  who  could  neither 
get  at  it  nor  out  of  the  way,  because  his  crack 
hunter  did  n't  know  what  the  pressure  of  his  mas- 
ter's legs  meant,  and  fought  shy  of  the  gate,  while 
keeping  others  from  coming  near  it?  Have  you 
never  stood  watching  a  race  at  the  Country  Club, 
with  a  rider  beside  you  whose  horse  took  up  five 
times  the  space  he  was  entitled  to,  because  he 
could  not  be  made  to  move  sidewise  ?  Has  not 
every  one  seen  occasions  when  even  a  little  train- 
ing would  have  been  a  boon  both  to  himself  and 
his  neighbors  ? 

Talking  of  opening  gates,  one  of  the  best  bits 
of  practice  is  to  unlock,  open,  and  ride  through  a 
common  door  and  close  and  lock  it  after  you 
without  dismounting.  Let  it  be  a  door  opening 
towards  you.  If  your  horse  will  quickly  get  into 
and  stand  steady  in  the  positions  necessary  to  en- 
able you  to  lean  over  and  do  all  this  handily  at 
any  door,  gates  will  cease  to  have  any  terrors  for 
you. 

Nor  must  you  suppose  that  every  schooled 
horse  is  of  necessity  kept  in  his  most  skilled  form 
at  all  times.  As  few  college  graduates  of  twenty 
years'  standing  can  construe  an  ode  of  Horace, 


86  Penelope. 

though  indeed  they  may  understand  the  purport 
and  read  between  the  lines  as  they  could  not  un- 
der the  shadow  of  the  elms  of  Alma  Mater,  so 
Patroclus,  for  instance,  is  by  no  means  as  clever 
in  the  intricate  steps  of  his  School  performances 
as  he  was  when  fresh  from  his  education.  But 
the  result  is  there ;  and  for  all  the  purposes  of 
actual  use  in  the  saddle,  the  training  he  has  had 
at  all  times  bears  its  fruit. 

After  this  weary  exordium  of  theory,  Tom,  for 
which  my  apologies,  let  us  turn  to  a  bit  of  prac- 
tice. 

XXVI. 

And  first  about  the  horse  himself.  If  you  buy 
one,  do  so  under  such  advice  as  to  get  soundness, 
intelligence,  courage,  and  good  temper.  Our 
American  horses,  unless  spoiled,  generally  have 
all  these  in  sufficient  measure,  and  can  be  made 
everything  of.  You  have  been  exceptionally  for- 
tunate in  your  purchase  of  Penelope.  She  is 
light  gaited,  not  long  and  logy  in  her  movements, 
and  carries  her  own  head.  She  has  remarkable 
good  looks,  an  inestimable  quality  after  you  get 
performance ;  but  beware  of  the  May-bird  which 
has  good  looks  alone.  She  is  fifteen  three,  nearly 
as  high  at  the  rump,  and  with  tail  set  on  right 
there,  fine-bred,  but  with  barrel  enough  to  weigh 
about  a  thousand  and  twenty  pounds.  She  looks 
like  a  thoroughbred  hunter,  Tom,  every  inch  of 


Driving  Saddle  Horses.  87 

her.  This  is  a  good  height  and  weight  for  you, 
who  ride  pretty  heavy  for  a  youngster,  and  are  apt 
soon  to  run  up  to  "  twel'  stun  eight." 

You  say  Penelope  is  six  years  old.  From  five 
to  eight  is  the  best  age,  the  nearer  five  the  better. 
An  old  horse  does  not  supple  so  readily.  And  she 
was  well  broken  to  harness .?  A  good  harness 
training  is  no  harm  to  any  horse,  nor  occasional 
use  in  light  harness,  whatever  pride  one  may  take 
in  a  horse  which  has  never  looked  through  a  col- 
lar. In  fact,  many  hunters  in  the  Old  Country  are 
purposely  used  as  tandem,  or  four-in-hand  leaders 
during  the  summer,  to  give  them  light  work,  and 
bring  them  towards  the  season  in  firmer  condi- 
tion than  if  they  had  run  at  large  and  eaten  their 
heads  off.  It  is  only  the  pulling  or  holding  back 
of  heavy  weights  which  injures  saddle  gaits,  and 
this  because  a  saddle  beast  should  be  taught  to 
keep  his  hind  legs  well  under  him,  and  remain 
in  an  elastic  equilibrium  ;  and  dragging  a  load 
brings  about  the  habit  of  extending  the  legs  too 
much  to  the  rear,  while  holding  back  gives  a 
habit  of  sprawling  and  stiffening  which  is  sadly 
at  variance  with  a  "  collected  "  action. 

XXVII. 

You  ask  about  dress.  Wear  anything  which  is 
usual  among  riders.  Enamel  boots  as  now  worn 
are  convenient  to  the  constant  rider,  as  the  mud 


88  Saddle  and  Bridle. 

does  not  injure  them  as  it  does  cloth,  and  water 
at  once  cleanses  them.  But  plain  dark  trousers, 
cut  a  mere  trifle  longer  than  you  wear  them  on 
the  street,  and  strapped  under  the  feet,  are  ex- 
cellent to  ride  in.  If  cut  just  right  they  are 
the  neatest  of  all  gear  for  park  riding  in  good 
weather.  The  simpler  your  dress  the  better. 
Gentlemen  to-day  dress  in  boots  when  riding 
with  ladies,  and  fashion,  of  course,  justifies  their 
use  now  as  it  did  fifty  years  ago.  But  within  half 
that  term,  in  England,  a  man  who  would  ride  in 
boots  with  a  pretty  horsebreaker  considered  trou- 
sers de  rigeur,  if  he  was  going  to  the  Park  with 
his  wife  or  daughters. 

To  saddle  and  bridle  your  horse,  you  must 
know  your  own  needs  and  his  disposition  and 
mouth.  But  the  English  saddle  and  a  bit  and 
bridoon  bridle,  such  as  you  have,  are  the  sim- 
plest, and  meet  most  wants,  providing  they  fit 
the  back  and  mouth. 

We  do  not  have  to  suit  such  varying  tempers 
and  mouths  in  this  country  as  they  do  abroad. 
Our  horses  are  singularly  tractable.  It  is  rather 
a  stunning  thing  to  be  mounted  on  the  fashion- 
able type  of  horse  who  "  won't  stand  a  curb,  you 
know,"  —  and  there  are  some  such,  —  but,  as  a 
fact,  ninety-nine  American  horses  out  of  one 
hundred  will  work  well  in  a  port  and  bridoon 
bridle  properly  adjusted. 


The  Beginning,  89 

Always  buy  good  things.  Cheap  ones  are 
dear  at  any  price.  Your  saddle  should  fit  so 
that  when  you  are  in  it  you  can  thrust  your  rid- 
ing-whip under  the  pommel  and  to  the  cantle 
along  the  horse's  backbone ;  otherwise  you  may 
get  sore  withers.  The  bits  should  hang  in  the 
mouth  just  above  where  a  horse's  tush  grows. 
Penelope's  sex,  you  see,  Tom,  precludes  her  hav- 
ing any. 

XXVIII. 

When  you  bought  Penelope,  she  knew  nothing 
of  saddle  work,  and  I  told  you  to  ride  her  a  few 
times  on  a  walk  or  a  trot,  anywhere  and  anyhow, 
so  as  to  get  used  to  her,  and  her  used  to  you,  be- 
fore you  began  to  teach  her  anything.  She  had 
presumably  always  been  ridden  to  and  from  the 
blacksmith's  shop,  and  worked  kindly  under  sad- 
dle. You  have  got  good  legs,  Tom,  and  any 
man  with  average  legs  can  keep  his  seat  after  a 
fashion  on  a  decently  behaved  horse.  You  were 
afraid  you  could  not  sit  Penelope  when  you  first 
bought  her,  and  had  not  ridden  for  so  long  that 
you  felt  strange  in  the  saddle.  So  I  advised  you 
to  hire  an  old  plug  for  a  few  rides  until  you 
were  sure  you  would  feel  at  home  when  you 
mounted  her,  meanwhile  exercising  her  in  har- 
ness. The  better  part  of  valor  will  always  be  dis- 
cretion, now  as  in  Falstaff's  time,  while  the  best 
of  horses  will  get  a  bit  nervous  if  kept  long  in 


90  How  to  Mount. 

a  half-dark  stable.  Regular  exercise  is  as  essen- 
tial to  a  horse  as  oil  is  to  an  engine,  if  either  is 
to  work  smoothly. 

You  ask  me  the  proper  way  to  mount.  Let  us 
stop  while  you  dismount,  and  I  will  show  you  the 
usual  way.  It  is  simple  work.  Stand  opposite 
Nelly's  near  shoulder,  a  foot  or  so  away  from  her, 
and  facing  towards  the  cantle  of  your  saddle. 
Gather  up  your  snaffle  reins  just  tight  enough 
to  feel,  but  not  pull  on  her  mouth,  and  seize  a 
part  of  her  mane  with  your  left  hand.  Insert 
your  toe  in  the  stirrup,  just  as  it  hangs,  using 
your  right  hand  if  necessary.  Then  seize  the 
cantle  of  the  saddle  with  your  right  hand,  and 
springing  from  your  right  foot,  without  touching 
the  horse's  flank  with  your  left  toe,  raise  yourself 
into  the  stirrup,  pause  a  moment,  and  then  throw 
the  leg  across  the  horse,  moving  your  right  hand 
away  in  season.  If  you  were  shorter,  you  might 
have  to  spring  from  your  foot  before  you  could 
touch  the  cantle.  As  in  everything  else,  there 
are  other  and  perhaps  better  ways  to  mount,  and 
pages  can  be  written  upon  the  niceties  of  each 
method.  But  the  above  suffices  for  the  nonce. 
You  can  choose  your  own  fashion  when  you  have 
tried  them  all. 

An  active  youngster,  like  yourself,  should  be 
able  to  vault  into  the  saddle  without  putting  the 
left  foot  into  the  stirrup  at  all.    In  all  Continental 


Holding  the  Reins.  91 

gymnasiums,  this  is  one  of  the  usual  exercises, 
on  a  horse-block  with  imitation  saddle,  and  is  an 
excellent  practice.     By  all  means  learn  it. 

XXIX. 

You  do  not  seem  to  hold  your  reins  handily, 
Tom.  Of  all  the  methods  of  holding  reins  I  pre- 
fer the  old  cross-country  way  of  a  generation 
back,  still  recommended,  I  was  pleased  to  see,  in 
the  very  excellent  article  "  Horse  "  of  the  edition 
of  the  "  Cyclopaedia  Britannica "  now  publishing, 
and  I  fancy  yet  much  in  vogue. 

The  School  method  is  different ;  but  the  School 
requires  that  the  curb  and  snaffle  shall  be  used 
for  different  indications  or  "  aids  "  to  convey  the 
rider's  meaning  to  the  horse,  and  not  at  the  same 
time.  In  ordinary  saddle  work  it  is  generally 
convenient  to  employ  the  reins  together.  Gather 
your  reins  up  with  me.  The  near  curb  outside 
little  finger,  near  snaffle  between  little  and  third 
fingers,  off  snaffle  between  third  and  middle,  off 
curb  between  middle  and  index,  all  four  gathered 
flat  above  index  and  held  in  place  by  thumb, 
knuckles  up.  Or  easier,  take  up  your  snaffle  by 
the  buckle  and  pass  the  third  finger  of  left  hand 
between  its  reins;  then  take  up  the  curb  and 
pass  the  little,  third,  and  middle  fingers  between 
its  reins.  The  snaffle  reins,  you  see,  are  thus  in- 
side the  curb  reins,  each  is  easily  reached  and 


92  One  and  Both  Hands. 

distinguished  and  you  can  shift  hold  from  left 
hand  to  right,  or  vice  versa,  more  readily  than  in 
any  other  way,  by  merely  placing  one  hand,  with 
fingers  spread  to  grasp  the  reins,  in  front  of  the 
other.  By  having  the  loop  of  each  rein  hanging 
separate  so  that  the  free  hand  can  seize  it  quickly, 
either  can  be  shortened  or  lengthened  at  will,  or 
they  may  be  so  together.  Moreover,  this  hold 
affords  the  easiest  method  of  changing  from  one 
to  both  hands  and  back. 

For  if  you  insert  your  right  little  finger  be- 
tween the  off  reins,  and  your  third  finger  inside 
the  snafifle  rein,  and  draw  the  off  reins  from  your 
left  hand  slightly,  you  have  a  very  handy  means 
of  using  both  hands,  with  the  additional  value 
that  you  can  either  drop  the  right  reins  by  eas- 
ing the  length  of  the  left  ones  to  equalize  the 
pressure  on  the  horse's  mouth ;  or  by  grasping 
the  left  reins  with  right  middle  finger  over  snaffle 
and  first  finger  over  curb,  you  can  shift  to  the 
right  hand  entirely.  When  in  this  position  you 
can  again  use  the  left  hand  by  inserting  its  fin- 
gers in  front  of  the  right  one  and  closing  upon 
the  reins,  as  already  indicated.  In  fact,  without 
lengthening  the  near  reins,  but  merely  by  placing 
the  right  hand  in  any  convenient  way  on  the  off 
ones,  you  may  be  ready  to  use  both  hands  in  en- 
tirely proper  fashion.  And  in  this  day  of  two- 
handed  riding,  it  is  advisable  to  be  able  to  follow 
the  fashion  quickly. 


"  Riding  the  Bridled  93 

For  School  airs,  this  also  affords  an  easy  way 
of  using  separately  curb  and  snaffle,  as  is  often 
necessary. 

If  you  are  riding  with  single  reins,  you  will 
place  them  on  either  side  of  third  or  little  finger, 
or  embracing  little,  third,  and  middle  fingers  and 
up  under  thumb  in  similar  manner.  A  single 
rein  may  be  held  in  many  ways. 

With  all  other  double-rein  methods,  except  the 
one  described,  you  have  to  alter  the  position  of 
reins  in  shifting  from  hand  to  hand.  With  this  one 
the  order  of  reins  and  fingers  remains  the  same. 

Any  other  system  of  holding  the  reins  which 
you  prefer  will  do  as  well,  if  you  become  expert  at 
it.  I  have  tried  them  all,  from  Baucher's  down, 
and  have  always  reverted  to  what  was  shown  me 
thirty  odd  years  ago. 

Your  curb  chain  should  be  looser  than  it  is, 
Tom.  A  horse  needing  a  stiff  curb  is  unsuited  to 
any  but  an  expert  rider,  and  must  have  a  great 
many  splendid  qualities  to  make  up  for  this  really 
bad  one.  Some  people  like  a  mouth  they  can 
hold  on  by,  but  they  do  not  make  fine  horsemen. 
Never  ride  on  your  horse's  mouth,  or,  as  they  say, 
"  ride  your  bridle."  Many  men  like  a  hunter  who 
"  takes  hold  of  you,"  but  this  won't  do  on  the 
road,  if  you  seek  comfort  or  want  a  drilled  horse. 
You  see  that  Nelly  keeps  jerking  at  the  curb. 
Let  out  a  link,  at   least.     An   untrained   horse 


94  What  you  Aim  to  Do. 

seeks  relief  from  the  curb  by  poking  out  his 
nose,  the  trained  one  by  giving  way  to  it  and 
arching  his  neck.  It  Is  better  at  first  only  to  ride 
on  your  snaffle  rein,  leaving  your  curb  rein  rea- 
sonably loose;  or  else  you  may  use  only  a  snaffle 
bit  and  single  rein  for  a  while.  But  unless  you 
very  early  learn  that  your  reins  are  to  afford  no 
support  whatever  to  your  seat,  you  will  never  be 
apt  to  learn  It.  Don't  use  a  martingale  unless 
your  horse  Is  a  star-gazer,  or  else  tosses  his  head 
so  as  to  be  able  to  strike  you.  It  tends  to  make 
you  lean  upon  the  rein  and  confines  your  horse's 

head. 

XXX. 

You  have  now  been  out  a  half-dozen  times 
with  your  new  purchase,  Tom,  and  you  have  man- 
aged to  get  along  much  to  your  own  satisfaction. 
You  have  neither  slipped  off,  nor  has  Penelope 
misbehaved.  But  you  are  intelligent  enough  to 
see  that  there  is  something  beyond  this  for  you 
and  her  to  learn.  I  do  not  know  how  ambitious 
you  are.  If  you  want  to  make  Nelly's  forehand 
and  croup  so  supple  that  you  can  train  her  Into 
the  finest  gaits  and  action,  you  must  go  to  work 
on  the  stable  floor  with  an  hour  a  day  at  least  of 
patient  teaching,  for  a  number  of  weeks.  For 
this  purpose  you  must  have  a  manual  of  Instruc- 
tion, such  as  I  have  shown  you,  and  quite  a  little 
stock  of  leisure  and  particularly  of  good  temper. 


A  Half-Training.  95 

The  ordinary  English  trainer  thinks  that  a 
good  mouth  may  be  made  in  two  weeks,  by  strap- 
ping a  colt's  reins  to  his  surcingle  for  an  hour  or 
two  daily,  and  by  longeing  with  a  cavesson.  But 
excellent  as  cavesson  work  may  be,  this  means 
alone  will  by  no  means  produce  the  quality  of 
mouth  which  the  Baucher  method  will  make,  or 
which  you  should  aim  to  give  to  Nelly. 

Still  I  know  that  you  have  but  limited  time, 
Tom,  and  that  you  want  your  daily  ride  to  edu- 
cate both  yourself  and  your  mare.  This  can  be 
accomplished  after  a  fashion ;  but  it  is  only  what 
the  primary  school  is  to  the  university,  —  good, 
as  far  as  it  goes.  The  trouble  with  beginning  to 
supple  a  horse's  neck  when  in  motion  is  that  you 
ask  him  to  start  doing  two  things  at  once,  that  is, 
move  forward  at  command  and  obey  your  reins, 
and  he  will  be  apt  to  be  somewhat  confused.  He 
will  not  as  readily  understand  what  you  want 
him  to  do,  as  if  standing  quiet  and  undisturbed. 

With  plenty  of  courage,  Tom,  Penelope  seems 
to  have  a  very  gentle  disposition.  Almost  all  of 
our  American  horses  have.  They  are  not  as  apt 
to  be  spoiled  in  the  breaking -in  as  they  are 
abroad.  And  I  fancy  she  is  intelligent.  You 
should  have  no  difficulty  in  training  her,  and  in 
teaching  her  a  habit  of  obedience  which  she  will 
never  forget. 

It  is  all  but  an  axiom  that  an  unspoiled  horse 


96  Train  by  Geittle  Means. 

will  surely  do  what  he  knows  you  want  him  to 
do,  unless  he  is  afraid  to  do  it,  or  unless,  as  is 
generally  the  case,  you  yourself  are  at  fault. 
The  difficulty  lies  in  making  him  understand  you. 
Remember  this,  and  keep  your  patience  always. 
If  a  horse  is  roguish,  as  he  often  will  be,  it  is 
only  a  moment's  play,  and  he  will  at  once  get 
over  it,  unless  you  make  it  worse  by  unnecessary 
fault-finding.  I  generally  laugh  at  a  horse  instead 
of  scolding  him.  He  understands  the  tone  if  not 
the  words,  and  it  turns  aside  the  occasion  for  a 
fight  or  for  punishment. 

Never  invite  a  fight  with  a  horse.  Avoid  it 
whenever  you  can  accomplish  your  end  by  other 
means.  Never  decline  it  when  it  must  come. 
But  either  win  the  fight  or  reckon  on  having  a 
spoiled  horse  on  your  hands,  who  will  never  thor- 
oughly obey  you. 

And  remember  that  a  horse  who  obeys  from 
fear  is  never  as  tractable,  safe,  or  pleasant  as  one 
who  has  been  taught  by  gentle  means,  and  with 
whom  the  habit  of  obeying  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  love  for  his  master  and  pleasure  in  serving 
him.  I  do  not  refer  to  those  creatures  which 
have  already  been  made  equine  brutes  by  the  stu- 
pidity or  cruelty  of  human  brutes.  One  of  these 
may  occasionally  need  more  peremptory  treat- 
ment, but  under  proper  tuition  even  such  an  one 
needs  it  rarely. 


Plate  IX. 


CLEAN   ABOVE   IT. 


Penelope  Fretting.  97 

XXXI. 

Let  us  have  a  trot,  and  see  how  Penelope 
moves,  and  how  you  sit.  You,  Tom,  will  take 
your  pace  from  me.  There  is  nothing  more  un- 
horsemanlike  and  annoying  than  for  a  rider  to 
keep  half  a  horse's  length  in  front  of  his  com- 
panion. Your  stirrup  should  be  even  with  mine. 
A  gentleman  can  be  a  foot  or  two  in  front  of  a 
lady,  for  safety  and  convenience,  but  men  should 
ride  as  they  would  walk,  all  but  arm  in  arm. 
Now  you  can  see  the  effects  of  education.  Pe- 
nelope insists  on  trotting  a  twelve-mile  gait,  and 
no  wonder,  for  she  has  such  fine,  open  action,  that 
a  sharp  gait  is  less  effort  to  her  than  a  slow  one. 
On  the  contrary,  I,  who,  as  the  senior,  have  the 
right  to  give  the  pace,  am  satisfied  with  two- 
thirds  that  speed ;  and  Patroclus,  who,  as  you 
well  know,  can  easily  out-trot,  or,  I  fancy,  out-run 
your  mare,  and  would  dearly  like  to  try  it,  yields 
himself  to  my  mood  without  an  ounce  of  pull  or 
friction.  Look  at  his  reins.  They  are  quite  loose. 
Now  look  at  yours.  Nelly  is  pulling  and  fretting 
for  all  she  is  worth,  while  you  are  working  your 
passage.  Two  miles  like  that  will  take  three  out 
of  her  and  five  out  of  you.  She  will  fume  her- 
self into  a  lather  soon,  while  Pat  will  not  have 
turned  a  hair.  She  certainly  is  a  candidate  for 
training.     You  appear  to  need  all  the  strength  of 


98  Talk  to  your  Horse. 

your  arms  to  pull  her  down  to  a  walk,  whereas  a 
simple  turn  of  the  wrist,  or  a  low-spoken  word, 
should  suffice. 

By  the  way,  always  indulge  in  the  habit  of 
talking  to  your  horse.  You  have  no  idea  of  how 
much  he  will  understand.  And  if  he  is  in  the 
habit  of  listening  for  your  words,  and  of  paying 
heed  to  what  you  say,  he  will  be  vastly  more  obe- 
dient as  well  as  companionable.  Patroclus  and  I 
often  settle  very  knotty  questions  on  the  road. 
We  think  we  helped  elect  Cleveland.  And  I 
must  confess  that  occasionally  a  passer-by  fancies 
that  I  am  talking  to  myself,  whereas,  if  he  but 
knew  the  meaning  of  Patroclus'  lively  ears,  he 
would  see  what  a  capital  comrade  I  have,  and 
one,  moreover,  who,  like  one's  favorite  book,  is 
never  impertinent  enough  to  answer  back,  or  flout 
you  with  excessive  wisdom.  It  is  certainly  a  very 
pleasant  study  to  see  how  many  words  or  phrases 
a  horse  can  learn  the  meaning  of,  and  act  intelli- 
gently when  he  hears  them. 

XXXII. 

What,  then,  shall  you  do  first  in  the  way  of 
education  ?  Well,  let  us  see.  As  Nelly  has  been 
broken  to  harness,  she  can  probably  only  walk 
and  trot.  You,  yourself,  seem  to  stick  fairly  well 
to  the  saddle.  But  how  about  your  own  position? 
Your  leathers  are  a  trifle  long.     They  should  be 


Riding  '''Home'''  99 

of  just  such  length  that,  when  you  are  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  saddle,  on  your  seat,  not  your  crotch, 
with  the  ball  of  your  foot  in  the  stirrups,  your  feet 
are  almost  parallel  with  the  ground,  the  heel  a 
trifle  lower  than  the  toes.  Your  toes  are  below 
your  heels,  you  see.  You  should  be  able  to  get 
your  heels  well  down  when  you  settle  into  your 
saddle.  The  old  rule  of  having  the  stirrups  just 
touch  the  ankle-bone  when  the  foot  is  hanging  is 
not  a  bad  one.  The  arm  measure  is  unreliable, 
and  physical  conformation,  as  well  as  different 
backed  horses,  often  require,  even  in  a  sound 
man,  odd  lengths  of  leathers. 

You  should  not  attempt  to  ride  with  your  feet 
"  home  "  until  you  can  keep  your  stirrup  under 
the  ball  of  your  foot  without  losing  it,  whatever 
your  horse  may  do ;  and  when  you  do  ride 
"  home,"  you  should  occasionally  change  back  to 
the  ball  of  your  foot,  so  as  to  keep  in  practice. 
Moreover,  you  can  train  a  horse  much  more  eas- 
ily, riding  with  only  the  ball  of  the  foot  in  the 
stirrup,  for  you  can  use  your  legs  to  better  advan- 
tage. My  disability  obliges  me  to  ride  "  home  " 
at  all  times,  and  I  have  always  found  it  much 
more  difHcult  to  teach  a  horse  the  right  leg  indi- 
cations than  the  left.  I  have  to  employ  my  whip 
not  infrequently,  in  lieu  of  my  leg.  Your  stirrup 
should  be  larger  and  heavier,  for  safety.  I  don't 
like  your  fine,  small  stirrups ;   and   your  saddle 


lOO  Use  your  Knees. 

should  have  spring  bars,  which  you  should  al- 
ways keep  from  rusting  out  of  good  working  or- 
der. They  have  saved  many  a  man's  collar-bone. 
Be  in  the  habit  of  using  your  knees  and  thighs 
alone  for  grip,  though  the  closer  you  clasp  the 
saddle  without  getting  your  legs  around  the  horse, 
the  better.  In  the  leap,  or  with  a  plunging  horse, 
you  may  use  the  upper  part  of  the  calf,  or  as 
much  more  as  your  spurs  will  allow  you  to  use. 
But  of  all  equestrian  horrors  the  worst  is  the  too 
common  habit  of  constantly  using  the  calves  in- 
stead of  the  knees  to  clasp  the  saddle-flaps.  To 
such  an  extent  is  this  often  carried  by  a  tyro 
(and  no  man  gets  beyond  this  stage  who  does  it), 
that  you  can  see  an  angle  of  daylight  between 
the  points  where  his  thigh  and  calf  touch  the  sad- 
dle, showing  that  his  knee,  which  ought  to  be 
his  main  and  constant  hold,  does  not  touch  the 
saddle  at  all.  The  stirrup-leathers,  especially  if 
heavy,  as  they  should  be,  often  hurt  the  knee,  if 
you  are  new  to  the  saddle,  and  perhaps  are  the 
main  inducement  to  this  execrable  habit.  But 
you  must  either  get  your  knees  hardened,  or  else 
give  up  the  saddle.  Keep  a  steady  lookout  for 
this.  You  will  never  ride  if  you  don't  use  your 
knees.  If  you  do  use  them  properly,  your  feet 
will  look  after  themselves.  Ride  with  the  flat  of 
the  thigh  and  the  knee-bone  at  all  times  close  to 
the  saddle. 


Sitting  a  Jog-Trot  loi 

Sit  erect,  but  avoid  rigidity.  It  is  good  prac- 
tice to  sit  close,  that  is,  without  rising,  on  a  slow 
jog-trot.  Let  us  try.  Sit  perfectly  straight  and 
take  the  bumping.  On  a  jog-trot,  it  is  an  unpar- 
donable sin  to  lean  forward  at  all.  You  will  find 
that  shortly  it  does  not  bump  you  so  much,  and 
by  and  by  it  will  not  at  all.  But  don't  lean  back 
either.  That  is  the  country  bumpkin's  preroga- 
tive. Nelly  is  evidently  easy  enough,  only  she 
has  not  been  taught  to  curb  her  ambition.  Noth- 
ing shakes  a  man  into  the  saddle  better  than  this 
same  jog-trot.  Nothing  is  more  absurd  than  the 
attempt  to  rise  when  the  horse  is  only  jogging, 
or,  as  it  were,  the  attempt  to  make  your  horse  be- 
gin to  trot  by  beginning  to  rise.  It  looks  like  an 
attempt  to  lift  yourself  up  by  your  boot  straps. 
Teach  him  some  other  indication  to  start  a  trot. 
It  is  useless  to  rise  unless  a  horse  is  going  at 
least  a  six-mile  gait. 

Some  School-riders  taboo  the  jog,  but  all  the 
cavalry  of  the  world  use  it ;  it  is  the  homeward 
gait  of  the  tired  hunter,  and  it  does  teach  a  man 
a  good,  easy,  safe  seat.  It  is  true  that  a  horse 
who  won't  walk  at  speed,  but  who  falls  from  a 
slow  walk  into  a  jog  whenever  you  urge  him,  is 
a  nuisance.  Moreover,  the  uneducated  jog  is 
neither  a  fashionable  nor  a  desirable  gait.  But 
a  schooled  jog,  which  the  horse  does  under  your 
direction   and    control,   is    quite   another   thing, 


I02  Position  of  Hands. 

and  a  jog  greatly  relieves  a  tired  horse.  It 
seems  to  be  unjustly  tabooed.  Unless,  then,  you 
are  ultra-fashionable,  make  a  habit  of  jogging 
now  and  then.  By  this  I  mean  jogging  with 
your  horse  "  collected,"  so  that  you  have  not  an 
ounce  of  hold  on  his  mouth,  and  he  is  still  un- 
der your  absolute  control,  your  seat  meanwhile 
being  firm  and  unshaken.  But  never  let  the 
horse  jog  of  his  own  motion.  That  may  spoil 
his  walk.  Make  him  jog  only  when  you  want 
him  to  do  so,  and  when  walking,  do  not  let  him 
fall  into  a  jog  unbidden.  The  jog  I  mean  should 
be  almost  a  parade  gait ;  too  slow  to  rise  to,  but 
still  perfect  in  action,  and  so  poised  that  from  it 
your  horse  can  bound  into  any  faster  gait  at 
word. 

Your  hands  are  too  high.  They  want  to  be 
but  a  couple  of  inches  above  the  pommel,  better 
lower  than  higher.  A  man  whose  reins  wear  out 
the  pigskin  on  his  pommel  is  all  right.  A  horse 
who  carries  his  head  high  needs  lower  hands. 
Some  low-headed  horses  require  the  hands  to  be 
held  a  bit  higher  to  stimulate  the  forehand. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  thus  much  without  saying 
a  great  deal  more ;  for  this  is  but  a  hint  of  what 
is  essential  to  correct  such  a  physical  defect  as 
a  low-carried  head.  But  what  I  tell  you  will 
whet  your  appetite  for  a  thorough  knowledge, 
and  this  you  will  find  in  the  books  of  Baucher's 


^^  Riding  the  Bridled  103 

followers.  The  use  of  snaffle  and  curb,  each  for 
its  best  purpose,  is  very  delicate. 

Let  me  again  repeat,  of  all  things  never  hang 
on  your  horse's  mouth.  You  may  have  to  do  so 
on  Penelope's,  or  rather  Penelope  may  hang  on 
your  hands,  till  you  get  her  suppled,  but  you 
must  try  to  do  that  soon.  You  don't  want  to  be 
a  "  three  legged  rider."  If  you  cannot  learn  to 
ride  at  any  gait  and  speed  smoothly  and  well, 
with  your  reins  so  loose  that  you  might  as  well 
not  have  them  in  your  hands,  you  will  never  do 
anything  but  "  ride  the  bridle." 

This  applies  to  your  seat,  not  to  Penelope.  It 
is  not  wise  habitually  to  ride  with  reins  too  loose ; 
you  should  always  feel  your  horse's  mouth.  But 
you  can  feel  it  without  a  tight  rein.  Good  driv- 
ing horses  often  pull.  A  good  riding  horse 
should  never  do  so. 

Nelly  seems  to  be  sure-footed.  If  she  is  apt 
to  stumble,  sell  her.  Your  neck  is  worth  more 
than  your  pocket.  By  School  training  and  its 
consequent  habit  of  keeping  the  hind  legs  well 
under  him,  a  stumbler  will  learn  instinctively  to 
bring  up  the  succeeding  hind  foot  to  the  support 
of  the  yielding  fore  foot,  so  as  to  save  himself  a 
fall ;  but  you  don't  want  an  imperfect  horse,  Tom. 
If  Nelly  can  trot  without  stumbling,  it  is  excel- 
lent practice  for  you  to  tie  the  reins  in  a  knot  on 
her  neck,  and   to  ride  along  the  road  without 


I04  Guiding  the  Horse. 

touching  them.  When  you  feel  as  secure  this 
way  as  any  other,  your  seat  is  strong.  You  do 
not  want  to  do  this  en  evidence.  But  get  off  on 
the  country  roads  and  practice  it.  This  is  one 
advantage  of  a  careful  riding-master  and  a  good 
school ;  a  pupil  is  taught  the  seat  apart  from  and 
before  the  uses  of  the  reins. 

XXXIII. 

As  I  think  you  have  already  mastered  all  that 
I  have  told  you,  you  may  begin  to  teach  Penel- 
ope a  bit.  But  remember  that,  as  you  are  both 
intelligent,  she  will  be  teaching  you  at  the  same 
time.  I  notice  that  you  have  to  use  two  hands 
to  guide  your  mare,  and  I  presume  you  want  to 
learn  some  better  way,  for  however  necessary  two 
hands  may  occasionally  be,  a  horse  must  at  times 
be  managed  by  one.  There  are  three  methods  of 
guiding  a  horse  under  saddle.  The  simplest,  and 
the  one  requiring  the  least  education,  is  the  same 
which  you  are  using,  and  which  is  the  common 
way  of  driving,  by  holding  the  rein  or  reins  of 
each  side  in  one  hand,  and  by  pulling  rein  on  the 
side  you  wish  Nelly  to  turn  to.  It  is  possible  to 
guide  this  way  with  one  hand  by  a  suitable  turn 
of  the  wrist,  but  unless  the  horse  is  well  collected, 
as  few  of  our  horses  nowadays  are,  it  is  a  poor 
reliance  in  any  unusual  case.  The  next  method 
is  guiding  by  the  neck,  by  which  the  horse  is 


One  Hand  versus  Two.  105 

made  to  turn  to  the  right  if  you  draw  the  rein 
across  or  lay  it  upon  the  left  side  of  his  neck,  and 
vice  versa.  The  third  method  combines  the  two 
others,  and  the  horse  obeys  either  indication.  It 
requires  -the  highest  art  in  man  and  beast,  and  is 
superb  in  results  when  learned.  The  animal  may 
be  guided  by  the  bit  with  the  reins  held  in  one 
hand,  applying  the  pressure  by  the  turn  of  the 
wrist,  or  may  be  turned  by  the  neck  while  the  bit 
is  used  to  lighten  one  or  other  side.  But  this 
requires  a  hand  and  mouth  of  equal  delicacy, 
and  a  horse  always  in  a  state  of  equilibrium. 

You  will  need  only  the  first  two  to  begin  with, 
and  Nelly  already  knows  the  first. 

Most  horses  now  and  then  require  you  to  use 
both  hands,  and  School-riding  calls  for  their  use 
in  the  more  difficult  feats.  But  an  agreeable  sad- 
dle beast  should  guide  by  the  neck  readily  at  all 
times.  Stonehenge  calls  this  a  "  highly  desirable 
accomplishment,"  but  it  is  really  only  the  begin- 
ning of  the  alphabet  of  the  horse's  education ;  and 
indeed  in  the  School  airs,  though  both  hands  be 
used,  the  forehand  is  constantly  thrown  to  one  or 
the  other  side  by  the  neck  pressure,  the  direct 
tension  of  the  rein  being  used  to  give  the  horse 
quite  a  different  indication  at  the  same  moment. 

Moreover,  you  will  not  always  be  able  to  de- 
vote two  hands  to  Nelly.  You  may  need  one  of 
them  for  something  else.     It  would  be  embarrass- 


io6  One  Hand  and  Two  Legs. 

ing  not  to  be  able  to  use  your  whip  or  crop,  or  to 
button  your  glove,  or  to  take  off  your  hat,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  turn  a  corner  or  avoid  a  team. 
I  have  often  ridden  with  people  who  so  entirely 
relied  upon  both  hands,  that  they  had  to  draw 
rein  for  so  simple  a  thing  as  the  use  of  their 
handkerchief,  lest  their  horse  should  fly  the  track 
while  their  right  hand  was  so  engaged.  And 
while  I  am  to  a  certain  extent  an  advocate  for 
the  use  of  two  hands,  I  cannot  agree  with  the 
habit  of  the  day  of  so  constantly  employing  two 
that  the  horse  and  rider  both  lose  the  power  of 
doing  satisfactory  work  with  one. 

By  all  means  teach  Nelly  to  guide  by  the  neck. 
When  you  have  done  this,  you  may  resort  to  both 
hands  again  whenever  you  desire.  And  the  habit 
of  using  both  hands  is  certainly  more  apt  to  keep 
your  shoulders,  and  hence  your  seat  straight. 
But  a  horse  who  cannot  be  guided  with  one  hand 
under  all  but  the  most  exceptional  conditions  is 
not  fit  for  saddle  work  on  the  road.  In  the  more 
intricate  paces  of  the  School,  indeed,  the  soldier 
uses  but  one  hand ;  and  though  often  more  deli- 
cate hints  can  be  imparted  to  a  horse's  mind  by 
two,  yet  all  except  the  greatest  performances  of 
the  manege  can  be  accomplished  with  one,  and  a 
horse  who  is  unable  to  rehearse  perfectly  all  the 
road  gaits  and  movements  with  the  indications  of 
one  hand  and  two  heels  is  sadly  lacking  in  the 
knowledge  he  should  boast. 


Guiding  by  the  Neck.  107 

You  very  naturally  ask  how  this  is  to  be 
taught.  It  is  by  no  means  difficult.  Have  you 
never  noticed  a  groom  riding  a  horse  in  a  halter .? 
Any  steady  horse  can  be  so  ridden.  The  halter 
rope  is  usually  on  the  left  side  of  the  neck  be- 
cause the  man  has  it  in  his  hand  when  he  jumps 
on,  and  he  guides  the  horse  by  a  pull  on  the 
halter  rope  if  he  wants  him  to  turn  to  the  left, 
and  by  laying  the  rope  upon  and  pulling  it  across 
the  neck  pretty  well  up  if  he  wants  him  to  turn  to 
the  right.  Now  you  will  notice  that  if  you  hold 
the  reins  far  up  on  Nelly's  neck,  half  way  from 
withers  to  ears,  and  pull  them  across  the  left 
(near)  side  of  her  neck,  she  will,  after  a  little  un- 
certainty, be  apt  to  turn  to  the  right,  although 
the  pull  is  on  the  left  side  of  the  bit.  Try  it  and 
see.  There,  —  she  has  done  it,  after  some  hesi- 
tation. And  she  did  it  because  she  felt  that  her 
head  was  being  forced  to  the  right  and  she  very 
naturally  followed  it.  The  reverse  will  occur  if 
you  will  pull  the  reins  across  the  right  (off)  side 
of  the  neck.  Some  horses  seize  this  idea  very 
quickly,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  practice  to 
keep  them  doing  the  same  thing  as  you  gradually 
bring  the  reins  farther  and  farther  down  the  neck 
till  they  lie  where  they  should  be,  near  the  with- 
ers. If  Nelly  will  thus  catch  the  idea,  a  week  or 
ten  days  will  teach  her  a  good  deal,  and  in  a 
month  she  will  guide  fairly  well  by  the  neck ;  — 


io8  Riding  in  a  Circle, 

after  which,  practice  makes  perfect.  If  she  had 
not  seemed  to  catch  the  idea,  and  had  turned  the 
other  way,  it  would  have  been  because  the  pull 
on  the  bit  impressed  her  mind  rather  than  the 
pressure  on  the  neck  acting  in  the  opposite  way. 
Under  such  circumstances  you  should,  when  you 
press  the  rein  on  the  near  side  of  her  neck,  take 
hold  of  the  off  rein  also  and  force  her  to  turn  to 
the  right,  trying  to  make  the  neck  pressure  a 
little  more  marked  than  that  on  the  bit.  A  horse 
quickly  learns  to  appreciate  the  difference  be- 
tween the  direct  pull  of  the  rein  on  the  bit  and 
the  indirect  one  made  across  the  neck.  None  of 
the  neat  movements  of  the  manege  can  be  exe- 
cuted unless  a  horse  has  learned  absolutely  to  dis- 
tinguish between  an  indication  to  turn,  and  one 
which  is  meant  to  lighten  one  side  in  order  to 
prepare  for  a  School  movement,  or  to  enable  him 
to  lead  or  exhibit  pronounced  action  with  that 
side. 

At  first  you  had  perhaps  better  teach  Penelope 
to  guide  only  one  way  by  the  neck,  using  the 
rein  alone  for  the  other  turn.  But  you  can  deter- 
mine this  by  her  intelligence.  If  there  is  any 
place  where  you  can  ride  in  an  irregular  circle  or 
quadrangle,  you  can,  after  Nelly  gets  used  to 
turning  in  a  certain  direction  at  the  corners,  press 
the  reins  on  the  opposite  side  of  her  neck  as  she 
is  about  to  turn,  so  that  she  may  get  to  associate 


Platb  X. 


TAKIXG-OP^F   AT   WATER. 


1 


A  Rigid  Neck.  109 

this  pressure  with  the  movement  in  the  direction 
away  from  it.  This  is  the  way  horses  learn  in  a 
riding-school.  Or  if  she  is  going  towards  home 
and  knows  the  corners  she  has  to  turn,  do  not  let 
her  make  them  of  her  own  accord,  but  hold  her 
away  from  them  until  you  give  her  the  neck 
pressure.  Or  you  can  zig-zag  along  the  road  if 
you  are  in  a  quiet  place  where  people  will  not 
think  that  you  are  toque,  or  that  your  mare  has 
the  staggers.  It  will  thus  not  be  long  before 
Nelly  gets  the  idea,  and  the  mere  idea,  once 
caught,  is  quickly  worked  into  a  habit.  Some- 
times I  have  got  a  horse  to  guide  passably  well 
by  the  neck  in  a  day.  Oftener,  it  takes  a  week 
or  two,  while  delicacy  comes  by  very  slow  de- 
grees. 

XXXIV. 

When  you  have  got  Nelly  to  the  point  where 
she  guides  fairly  well  by  the  neck,  what  next  ? 

It  is  evident  that  the  muscles  of  your  mare's 
neck  are  rather  rigid,  for  she  carries  it  straight, 
though  her  crest  is  well  curved.  From  this  rigid- 
ity springs  that  resistance  to  the  bit  which  she  so 
constantly  shows.  A  neck  which  arches  easily 
means,  as  a  rule,  obedience  to  it.  It  is  extremely 
rare  that  a  horse  will  arch  his  neck,  except  when 
very  fresh,  so  as  to  bring  his  mouth  to  the  yield- 
ing position  and  keep  it  there,  of  his  own  volition ; 
and  then  he  is  apt  to  pull  on  your  hands.     You 


no  An  Arched  Neck. 

must  not  suppose  that  an  arched  neck  means 
that  the  horseman  is  worrying  his  beast  to  make 
him  appear  proud  or  prance  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  off.  It  is  precisely  this  which  a  good 
horseman  never  does.  He  always  uses  his  bits 
gently.  It  is  cruelty,  as  well  as  ruin  to  the  horse's 
mouth,  to  hold  him  by  the  curb  until  his  neck 
tires,  and  he  leans  upon  it,  held  suspended  by  the 
equal  torture  of  the  chain  and  the  aching  muscles. 
A  horse  never  should  pull  on  a  curb.  If  your 
hands  are  light,  the  curb  rein  may  be  loose  and 
still  the  horse's  head  be  in  its  proper  position,  that 
is,  about  perpendicular.  The  well-trained  horse, 
without  the  slightest  effort,  arches  his  neck  to  the 
curb  or  snaffle  alike,  and  keeps  it  so.  It  is  only 
when  his  rider  releases  it,  or  chooses  to  let  him 
"  have  his  head  "  that  he  takes  it.  Often,  in  fact, 
a  horse  will  not  do  so  when  you  give  him  the 
chance.  Patroclus  here  will  get  tired  out,  cer- 
tainly completely  tire  me  out,  long  before  his  bit 
becomes  irksome.  When  trotting,  or  when  gal- 
loping across  the  fields  or  in  deep  snow,  I  am 
often  apt  to  let  him  carry  his  head  as  he  chooses 
on  account  of  the  change  or  the  extra  exertion. 
But  with  his  well-suppled  neck  I  always  feel  cer- 
tain that  the  slightest  intimation  of  the  bit  will 
bring  his  head  in  place  instead  of  meeting  resist- 
ance. And  he  generally  seems  to  prefer  to  bring 
his  head  well  into  the  bit,  so,  as  it  were,  to  estab- 


What  an  Arched  Neck  Means.  1 1 1 

lish  agreeable  relations  with  you.  I  often  notice 
that  he  feels  unsteady  if  I  give  him  his  head  too 
much.  And  when  tired,  he  seems  to  like  the  en- 
couragement given  by  light  and  lively  hands  all 
the  more. 

The  first  thing,  then,  to  do  is  to  get  Penelope's 
neck  suppled.  This  means  that  the  naturally 
rigid  muscles  of  the  neck  shall  be  by  proper  ex- 
ercises made  so  supple  as  to  allow  the  mare  to 
bring  her  head  to  the  position  where  there  can 
be  a  constant  "  give  and  take "  between  your 
hands  and  her  mouth.  The  usual  outward  sign 
of  such  suppleness  is  an  arched  neck,  though  as 
occasionally  an  habitual  puller  will  arch  his  neck 
naturally,  this  is  not  an  infallible  sign.  And  some 
horses,  especially  thoroughbreds,  however  good 
their  wind,  will  roar  if  you  too  quickly  bring  their 
heads  in.  This  is  because  the  wind-pipe  of  such 
horses  is  compressed  too  much  by  arching  the 
neck.  Thoroughbreds  on  the  turf  are  wont  to 
stick  their  noses  out  while  running,  because  this 
affords  them  the  best  breathing  power  at  very 
high  speed.  This  habit  becomes  hereditary,  and 
among  them  there  are  not  a  few  who  cannot 
readily  be  brought  in  by  the  bit.  Sometimes,  ex- 
cept as  a  feat,  you  can  never  supple  such  necks. 
Oftener,  it  only  needs  more  time  and  patience,  — 
in  other  words  a  slower  process.  A  limber-necked 
thoroughbred  has,  however,  the  most  delightful  of 


112  Walking. 

mouths,  except  for  the  fact  that  he  seems  occasion- 
ally to  draw  or  yield  almost  a  yard  of  rein,  owing 
to  the  length  of  his  neck,  and  your  hands  have 
to  be  watched  accordingly.  If  he  has  such  a 
neck,  the  only  safety,  if  he  is  high-strung,  is  never 
to  let  him  beyond  the  hand. 

The  result  of  the  suppling  of  the  neck  is  a  soft 
mouth  under  all  conditions.  How  shall  you  be- 
gin to  supple  Nelly's  neck,  you  ask,  without  the 
long  process  of  the  Schools  .? 

You  cannot  perfectly,  but  you  may  partially  do 
this  under  saddle.  Whenever  you  are  on  a  walk 
you  may,  as  a  habit,  let  your  horse  have  his  head, 
and  encourage  him  to  keep  at  his  best  gait.  A 
dull  walker  is  a  nuisance.  A  little  motion  of  the 
hands  or  heels  and  an  occasional  word  will  keep 
him  lively  and  at  work,  and  get  him  into  the 
habit  of  walking  well,  if  he  has  enough  ambition. 
The  School-rider  keeps  his  horse  "  collected  "  on 
the  walk  at  all  times,  and  though  the  steps  are 
thus  shortened,  they  become  quicker  and  more 
springy,  and  the  speed  is  not  diminished.  I  do 
either  way,  as  the  mood  takes  me,  for  though  I 
incline  to  the  method  of  the  School-riders,  I  do 
not  think  that  it  hurts  a  horse  to  have  entire  free- 
dom now  and  then. 

Some  amblers  are  slow  walkers,  but  the  five- 
mile  amble  takes  the  place  of  the  rapid  walk,  and 
is  often  more  agreeable.     Few  horses  walk  more 


Beginning  the  Flexions.  113 

than  three  and  a  half  miles  an  hour.  A  four-mile 
walk  is  a  good  one.  Exceptionally,  you  may  reach 
the  ideal  five  miles.  I  once  knew  a  horse  in 
Ohio  who  walked  (and  not  a  running  walk  either, 
but  a  square  "  heel  and  toe  "  walk)  six  miles  in 
an  hour,  on  wagers.  But  our  confab,  Tom,  often 
gets  too  diffuse.     Let  us  go  on  with  our  lesson. 

XXXV. 

Here  we  are  quietly  walking  along  the  road. 
Suppose  you  draw  up  the  reins  a  bit,  the  curb 
somewhat  the  more.  Nelly  will  at  once  bring  up 
her  head,  and  very  naturally  stick  out  her  nose  in 
the  endeavor  to  avoid  the  pressure  of  the  curb 
chain.  At  the  same  time,  as  you  see,  she  will 
shorten  her  steps.  Don't  jerk  or  worry  her,  but 
still  exert  a  gentle  pressure  on  the  curb,  and  keep 
up  a  slight  vibrating  movement  of  the  hands, 
speaking  to  her  kindly.  In  a  moment  or  two, 
she  will  arch  her  neck,  and  the  bit  will  hang 
loosely  in  her  mouth.  There,  you  see,  her  nose 
comes  down,  and  a  handsome  head  and  neck  she 
has !  Now  pat  her,  and  speak  caressingly  to  her, 
and  after  a  few  seconds  release  her  head.  When 
these  exercises  are  done  on  the  stable  floor,  the 
use  of  the  snaffle  will  accomplish  the  same  result, 
and  this  is  very  desirable.  But  if  you  begin 
these  flexions  on  the  road  you  must  use  the  curb, 
because  Nelly  now  understands  the  snaflle  to  be 


114  Champing  the  Bit. 

for  another  purpose.  The  use  of  the  curb  Is  apt 
to  lower  a  horse's  head,  and  with  some  horses  too 
much.  The  snaffle  may  be  employed  to  correct 
this  low  carriage,  but  this  use  of  it  involves  more 
than  I  can  explain  to  you  now.  If  Nelly's  head 
gets  too  low,  raise  your  hands  a  bit. 

Try  it  over  again,  and  each  time  prolong  the 
period  of  holding  her  head  in  poise.  But  never 
hold  it  so  long  that  her  neck  will  ache  and  she 
begin  to  lean  upon  the  bit.  If  she  should  do  so 
before  you  release  her  head,  play  gently  with  the 
rein  for  an  instant  to  get  her  back  to  the  soft 
mouthing  of  the  bit,  caress  her,  and  then  release 
her  head.  This  is  on  the  principle  that  you 
should  always  have  your  way  with  a  horse,  and 
not  he  his.  And  kindness  alone  accomplishes 
this  much  more  speedily  and  certainly  than  se- 
verity. If  the  occasion  ever  comes  when  you  can- 
not have  your  way  with  Nelly,  give  a  new  turn  to 
the  matter  by  attracting  her  attention  to  some- 
thing else,  so  as  not  to  leave  on  her  mind  the 
impression  that  she  has  resisted  you. 

Notice  two  things,  Tom,  while  Nelly  is  thus 
champing  her  bit.  She  has  an  almost  impercep- 
tible hold  of  your  hands  and  her  gait  is  shorter 
and  more  elastic.  This  has  the  effect  of  a  semi- 
poised  position,  from  which  she  can  more  readily 
move  into  any  desired  gait  than  from  the  ex- 
tended  looseness   of   the  simple  walk.     This  is 


Leaning  on  the  Curb,  115 

one  step  towards  what  horsemen  call  being  "  in 
hand,"  or  "  collected  ;  "  and  grooms,  "  pulled  to- 
gether," though  indeed  the  "  pulling  together " 
of  the  groom  but  very  distantly  approaches  the 
fine  poise  of  the  Schools. 

Of  all  means  of  destroying  a  good  mouth,  to 
allow  the  horse  to  lean  upon  the  curb  is  the  sur- 
est. Avoid  this  by  all  means.  But  so  long  as 
Nell  will  bring  in  her  head  and  play  with  the  bit, 
keep  her  doing  so  at  intervals.  After  a  week  or 
two  she  will  be  ready  to  walk  quite  a  stretch  with 
her  head  in  position,  and  you  will  both  of  you 
have  gained  something  in  the  way  of  schooling 
her  mouth  and  your  hands.  You  can  then  try 
her  on  a  trot,  and  if  you  can  keep  your  seat  with- 
out holding  on  by  the  reins,  she  will  learn  to  do 
the  same  thing  at  this  gait  too,  and  later  at  the 
canter  and  the  gallop.  But  unless  your  own  seat 
is  firm  and  your  hands  are  light,  you  will  only 
be  doing  her  future  education  an  injury.  Every 
twitch  on  her  sensitive  mouth,  occasioned  by  an 
insecure  seat  or  jerky  hands,  will  be  so  much  lost. 
Moreover,  your  curb  chain  must  neither  be  too 
long  nor  too  short.  If  too  long,  Nelly  will  not 
bring  down  her  head  at  all.  If  too  short,  it  will 
worry  her  unnecessarily.  You  can  judge  of  it  by 
her  willingness  gradually  to  accustom  herself  to 
it  without  jerking  her  head  or  resisting  it,  and 
without  lolling  her  tongue. 


1 1 6  Suppling  the  Croup. 

This  suppling  of  Nelly's  neck  which  you  will 
give  her  on  her  daily  ride  is  only  of  the  muscles 
governing  the  direct  up  and  down  motion  of  the 
head  and  neck.  You  are  not  overcoming  the  lat- 
eral rigidities.  This  requires  stable  exercises.  If 
you  have  leisure  for  these  (and  you  very  likely 
will  make  some  when  you  find  the  strides  in  com- 
fort and  elegance  Nelly  is  making),  you  will  buy 
one  of  the  manuals  I  have  told  you  about.  What 
you  have  taught  her,  however,  is  excellent  so  far 
as  it  goes,  and  is  time  well  employed.  It  will 
serve  its  purpose  upon  the  road,  if  it  does  not  suf- 
fice for  the  more  perfect  education. 

XXXVI. 

The  next  step  will  be  for  you  to  try  to  supple 
the  croup  or  hind-quarters  of  your  mare.  The 
two  things  can  go  on  together,  though  it  is  well 
to  get  the  forehand  fairly  suppled  before  begin- 
ning on  the  croup.  The  flexions  of  the  croup 
are  fully  as  important,  if  not  more  so,  than  those 
of  the  forehand,  and  in  their  proper  teaching  lies 
the  root  of  your  success.  If  you  wear  spurs,  you 
should  be  absolutely  sure  you  will  never  touch 
Nelly  with  them  by  accident.  Spurs  need  not  to 
be  severe  in  any  event.  It  is  uselessly  cruel  to 
bring  the  blood,  except  in  a  race,  where  every 
ounce  of  exertion  must  be  called  for.  Spurs  in 
training  or  riding  should  never  be  used  for  pun- 


The  Old  and  New  Manege.  117 

ishment.  They  will  be  too  essential  in  convey- 
ing your  meaning  to  Penelope  for  you  to  throw- 
away  their  value  in  bad  temper.  The  horse  should 
learn  that  the  spur  is  an  encouragement  and  an 
indication  of  your  wishes,  and  should  be  taught 
to  receive  its  attack  without  wincing  or  anger. 

The  old  habit  of  the  manege  was  to  force  all 
the  weight  of  the  horse,  by  the  power  of  a  severe 
curb  bit,  back  upon  his  haunches,  and  oblige  him 
to  execute  all  the  airs  in  a  position  all  but  poised 
upon  his  hind  legs.  The  modern  dispensation 
endeavors  to  effect  better  results  by  teaching  the 
animal  to  be  constantly  balanced  upon  all  four 
legs,  and,  by  having  his  forces  properly  distrib- 
uted, to  be  in  a  condition  to  move  any  of  them  at 
the  will  of  his  rider  in  any  direction,  without  dis- 
turbing this  balance.  Moreover,  the  element  of 
severity  has  been  eliminated  from  training  alto- 
gether. 

Suppose,  then,  that  you  are  walking  Nelly  and 
are  holding  her  head  in  poise.  Now  bring  your 
legs  gently  together,  so  as  to  slightly  touch  her 
sides.  You  will  see  that  she  at  once  moves 
quickly  towards  the  bit.  Here  she  must  find  her- 
self held  in  check  by  it.  The  result  of  the  two 
conditions  will  be  that  she  will  get  her  hind  legs 
somewhat  more  under  her  than  usual.  It  is  just 
this  act,  properly  done,  which  produces  the  equi- 
librium desired.     When  a  horse  is  what  is  termed 


1 1 8  A  Fine  Balance. 

"  collected,"  or  "  in  hand,"  he  has  merely  brought 
his  hind  feet  well  under  him,  and  has  yielded  his 
mouth  to  your  hands  in  such  a  way  that  he  can 
quickly  respond  to  your  demands.  This  he  can- 
not do  when  he  is  in  an  open  or  sprawling  posi- 
tion. 

It  were  better  to  teach  Nelly  this  gathering  of 
the  hind  legs  under  her  by  certain  preliminary 
exercises  on  foot;  but  you  can  by  patient  trial 
while  mounted  accomplish  a  great  part  of  the 
same  result.  And  between  bit  to  restrain  her 
ardor  and  spur  to  keep  her  well  up  to  it,  the 
mare  will  get  accustomed  to  a  position  of  equilib- 
rium from  which  she  can,  when  taught,  instantly 
take  any  gait,  advance  any  foot,  or  perform  any 
duty  required.  She  will  be  really  in  the  condi- 
tion of  a  fine  scale  which  a  hair's  weight  will  in- 
stantly affect. 

Do  not  suppose  that  bit  and  spur  are  to  be 
used  harshly.  On  the  contrary,  the  bit  ought  to 
play  in  her  mouth  loosely,  and  with  the  trained 
horse  the  barest  motion  of  the  leg  towards  the 
body  sufiBces.  The  spur  need  very  rarely  touch 
her  flank.  The  delicacy  of  perception  of  the 
schooled  horse  is  often  amazing.  But  the  co- 
efficient of  a  balanced  horse  is  a  rider  with  firm 
seat  and  light  hands.  Either  is  powerless  with- 
out the  other.  Moreover,  a  generous  and  intelli- 
gent  beast,  reasonably  treated,  learns   the   duty 


The  Horse  enjoys  Training.  119 

prescribed  to  him  without  the  least  friction.  To 
respond  to  a  kindly  rider's  wants  seems  to  be  a 
pride  and  a  pleasure  to  him  instead  of  a  task. 

Among  the  most  agreeable  incidents  of  horse- 
training  is  the  evident  delight  which  the  horse 
takes  in  learning,  the  appreciation  with  which  he 
receives  your  praise,  and  the  confiding  willing- 
ness with  which  he  performs  airs  requiring  the 
greatest  exertion,  and  often  a  painful  application 
of  the  spur,  without  any  idea  of  resistance  or  re- 
sentment, even  when  his  strength,  endurance, 
intelligence,  and  good  temper  are  taxed  to  the 
severest  degree.  I  have  sometimes  wondered  at 
a  patience,  which  I  myself  could  never  have  ex- 
hibited, in  a  creature  which  could  so  readily  re- 
fuse the  demands  made  upon  him,  as  well  as  at 
the  manifest  pleasure  he  will  take  in  the  simple 
reward  of  a  gentle  word. 

There  is  much  difference  in  the  nomencla- 
ture of  horse-training.  Unless  one  needs  to  be 
specific,  as  in  describing  the  methods  of  the 
Haute  Ecole,  "  in  hand  "  and  "  collected  "  are  fre- 
quently used  interchangeably.  But  they  should 
really  be  distinct  in  meaning,  "  in  hand "  being 
the  response  to  the  bit,  "  collected,"  the  response 
to  bit  and  legs,  and  "  in  poise,"  a  very  close  posi- 
tion of  equilibrium,  preceding  the  most  difficult 
movements  of  the  School. 

Now,  in  order  to  get  Penelope  accustomed  to 


1 20  Horses  at  Liberty. 

respond  to  the  pressure  of  the  legs,  you  must 
practice  bringing  your  legs  towards  her  flanks 
while  her  head  is  well  poised,  at  frequent  inter- 
vals. Whenever  she  responds  by  bringing  her 
hind  legs  under  her  —  and  you  will  notice  when 
she  does  so  by  her  greater  elasticity  and  more  ac- 
tive movement  —  speak  a  good  word  to  her,  and 
keep  her  gathered  in  this  way  only  so  long  as  she 
can  comfortably  remain  so,  gradually  prolonging 
the  terms  during  which  you  hold  her  thus  "  col- 
lected." You  will  find  that  her  step  will  soon  be- 
come lighter  and  the  speed  of  her  response  to 
your  own  movements  a  great  contrast  to  the  slug- 
gishness of  the  horse  moving  his  natural  gait  in 
the  saddle.  Her  carriage  will  begin  to  show  the 
same  equilibrium  in  which  the  practiced  fencer 
stands  "  in  guard,"  or  more  properly,  it  will  show 
that  splendid  action  of  the  horse  at  liberty  which 
he  never  exhibits  in  the  restraint  of  the  saddle, 
except  when  trained. 

Whoever  has  watched  a  half-dozen  fine  horses 
just  turned  loose  from  the  stall  into  a  pretty  pad- 
dock, will  have  noticed  that,  in  their  delighted 
bounds  and  curvetings,  each  one  will  perform  his 
part  with  a  wonderful  grace,  ease,  and  elegance  of 
action.  You  may  see  the  passage,  piaffer,  and 
Spanish  trot,  and  even  the  passage  backwards, 
done  by  the  untrained  horse  of  his  own  playful 
volition,  urged  thereto  solely  by  the  exuberance 


Plate  XI. 


DOING    IT    HANDILY. 


Study  the  Art.  121 

of  his  spirits.  Under  saddle  he  will  not  do  this, 
unless  taught  by  the  methods  of  the  School.  But 
so  taught,  he  will  perform  all  these  and  more, 
with  readiness  and  evident  satisfaction  to  him- 
self. 

I  must  again  impress  upon  you,  Tom,  that  for 
perfect  success,  even  in  little  things,  you  will 
need  vastly  more  careful  training  than  this ;  and 
that  what  I  am  discussing  with  you  is  but  a  very 
partial  substitute  for  the  higher  education.  I  am 
indeed  sorry  to  feel  tied  down  to  such  simple  in- 
struction. But  I  want  to  tell  you  just  enough  to 
lead  you  to  experiment  for  yourself,  and  to  catch 
sufficient  of  the  fascination  of  the  art  to  study  it 
thoroughly.  I  am,  however,  anxious  that  you 
should  by  no  means  understand  me  to  say  that 
you  can,  by  any  such  simple  means  as  I  shall  have 
detailed  to  you,  perfect  the  education  of  your 
mare.  You  can  improve  her  present  condition 
vastly,  and  make  her  light  and  handy  compared 
to  what  she  naturally  is.  But  the  best  results  in- 
volve far  other  work. 

XXXVII. 

You  tell  me  that  Nelly  can  only  trot  and  walk, 
and  you  want  to  teach  her  the  canter  and  hand 
gallop.  Many  horses  will  naturally  fall  into  a 
canter  if  you  shake  the  reins;  but  some  who 
come  of  trotting  stock  will  not  do  so  without  con- 


122  The  Cmiter. 

siderable  effort;  and  still  such  a  horse  is  often 
the  best  one  to  buy.  Now  the  easiest  way  to  get 
Nelly  into  a  canter,  if  she  persists  in  trotting,  is 
to  push  her  beyond  her  speed,  for  which  purpose 
you  should  select  a  soft  piece  of  ground.  So 
soon  as  she  has  broken  into  a  gallop,  unless 
she  has  been  trained  to  settle  back  into  a  trot, 
you  can  readily  slow  up  without  changing  her 
gait.  If  it  has  been  attempted  to  train  her  as 
a  trotter,  you  will  have  harder  work  to  do  this. 
But  there  is  a  little  vibrating  movement  of  the 
hands,  sometimes  called  "  lifting,"  which  tends 
to  keep  a  horse  cantering,  just  as  a  steady  pull 
keeps  him  trotting.  This  movement  is  in  the 
little  what  the  galloping  action  of  a  horse  is  in 
the  great.  The  hands  move  very  slightly  for- 
ward and  upward,  and  pass  back  again  on  an 
under  line. 

Apparently,  Nelly  has  been  broken  in  the  usual 
way,  for  she  trots  naturally  on  a  steady  rein  or 
on  the  snafBe.  Now,  you  will  find  that  a  moving 
rein  or  the  curb  is  apt  to  break  her  trot,  and 
make  her  do  something  else,  —  either  prance,  or 
trot  with  high  unsettled  steps,  or  canter.  It  is 
for  your  own  hands,  when  she  gets  to  the  canter, 
to  hold  her  there.  This  may  take  you  some  time, 
but  you  can  certainly  do  it  by  repeated  trials. 
Having  accomplished  it,  you  may,  between  curb 
bit  and  spurs,  both  gently  used,  mind  you,  gradu- 


A  Slow  Canter,  123 

ally  teach  her  to  carry  her  head  properly  at  this 
pace,  and  get  her  haunches  well  under  her ;  and  it 
will  give  you  pleasure  to  notice  how  much  more 
natural  it  is  for  her  to  come  "  in  hand  "  than  on 
the  trot.  As  the  canter  is  the  natural  gait  of  the 
horse,  you  will  find  Nelly  soon  keep  to  it  if  she 
understands  that  you  so  desire.  But  remember 
that  you  should  canter  or  gallop  habitually  only 
on  soft  ground.  Hard  roads  soon  injure  the  fore 
feet  and  fetlock  joints  if  a  horse  is  constantly  can- 
tered or  galloped  upon  them,  because  the  strides 
are  longer  and  the  weight  comes  down  harder, 
and  always  more  upon  the  leading  fore  foot  than 
upon  the  other.  Moreover,  the  canter  with  the 
hind  legs  well  gathered  is  apt  to  be  somewhat  of 
a  strain  to  the  houghs  of  the  horse  unless  it  is 
properly  —  rhythmically  —  performed,  and  unless 
the  animal  is  gradually  broken  in  by  proper  flex- 
ions. 

But  to  canter  is  one  thing.  You  have  yet  to 
teach  Penelope  to  canter  on  either  foot  at  will, 
leading  off  with  left  or  right  and  changing  foot  in 
motion.  This  is  quite  another  matter,  and  you 
will  find  that  it  will  take  some  time  and  a  vast 
deal  of  patience  in  both  of  you. 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  have  brought  Nell 
down  to  a  fairly  slow  canter.  Until  you  can, 
without  effort  to  her  or  you,  rein  her  down  to 
quite  a  slow  one,  she  does  not  know  the  rudi- 


1 24  Ladys  Trot  versus  Canter. 

ments  of  the  gait.  To  canter  properly,  she  must, 
without  resistance,  pull,  or  fret,  come  down  to  a 
canter  quite  as  slow  as  a  fast  walk,  even  slower, 
and  not  show  the  least  attempt  to  fall  into  a  jog ; 
all  this  while  so  poised  that  she  can  bound  into 
a  gallop  at  the  next  stride.  Any  plug  can  run. 
Few  of  the  saddle  horses  you  meet  on  the  road 
seem  to  canter  slowly,  and  yet  it  is  one  of  the 
most  essential  of  gaits  and  a  great  relief  from  a 
constant  trot,  especially  for  a  lady. 

It  may  perhaps  look  more  sportsmanlike  —  I 
don't  like  to  use  the  word  "  horsey  "  —  for  a  lady 
always  to  trot ;  but  no  lady,  apart  from  this,  be- 
gins to  look  as  well  upon  the  trot  as  when  sitting 
the  properly  timed  park  canter  of  a  fresh  and 
handsome  horse.  Moreover,  it  requires  vastly 
less  art  to  ride  the  trot  usually  seen  with  us  than 
to  bring  a  high-couraged  horse  down  to  a  slow 
parade  canter  and  keep  him  there,  not  to  dilate 
upon  the  gloriously  invigorating  and  luxurious 
feeling  of  this  gait  when  executed  in  its  perfec- 
tion. 

Some  lazy  horses  find  that  they  can  canter  as 
easily  as  walk  and  nearly  as  slowly,  but  this  dis- 
jointed, lax-muscled  progress  is  a  very  different 
performance  from  the  proud,  open  action  of  the 
generous  horse,  whose  stride  is  so  vigorous  that 
you  feel  as  if  he  had  wings,  but  who  curbs  his 
ardor  to  your  desires,  and  with  the  pressure  of  a 


Changing  Lead  in  Motion.  125 

silken  thread  on  the  bit  will  canter  a  five-mile 

gait. 

XXXVIII. 

You  have  probably  noticed  that  Nelly  some- 
times canters  with  one  shoulder  forward  and 
sometimes  with  the  other.  Almost  all  sound 
horses  will  change  lead  of  their  own  accord,  but 
not  knowing  why.  When  a  horse  shies  at  a 
strange  object,  or  hops  over  anything  in  his  path, 
or  gets  on  new  ground,  or  changes  direction,  he 
will  often  do  this.  If  a  horse  does  not  frequently 
change,  it  is  apt  to  be  on  account  of  an  unsound 
foot,  hough,  or  shoulder,  which  makes  painful  or 
difficult  the  lead  he  avoids.  But  occasionally  a 
sound  horse  will  always  lead  with  the  same  leg, 
until  taught  to  change.  For  a  lady  the  canter  is 
generally  easier  with  the  right  shoulder  leading, 
and  some  horses  are  much  easier  with  one  than 
the  other  lead.  In  fact,  on  the  trot,  many  horses 
are  easier  when  you  rise  with  the  off  than  when 
you  rise  with  the  near  foot,  or  vice  versa;  and 
some  writers  have  said  that  a  horse  leads  with 
one  or  other  foot  in  trotting.  But  as  the  trot 
should  be  a  square  and  even  gait,  the  peculiarity 
in  question  is  owing  to  excess  of  muscular  action 
in  one  leg  and  not  to  anything  approaching  the 
lead  in  the  canter  or  the  gallop. 

It  is  possible  to  teach  a  horse  to  start  with 
either  or  to  change  lead  in  the  canter  without 


126  Importance  of  Croup  Flexions. 

more  flexing  of  the  croup  than  you  can  give  him 
on  the  road;  but  it  is  worth  your  while  to  put 
Nelly  through  some  exercises  which  I  will  explain 
to  you.  It  will  save  time  in  the  end.  Their 
eventual  object  is  so  to  supple  the  croup  as  to 
render  the  hind-quarters  subject  to  the  rider's  will, 
and  absolutely  under  the  control  of  the  horse  as 
directed  by  him.  The  flexions  of  the  croup  are 
in  reality  more  important  than  those  of  the  fore- 
hand. Unless  a  horse's  hind-quarters  are  well 
under  him  and  so  thoroughly  suppled  as  to  obey 
the  slightest  indication  of  the  rider's  leg,  he  is 
lacking  in  the  greatest  element  of  his  education, 
if  he  is  to  be  made  a  School-horse.  At  the  same 
time  a  supple  croup  and  a  rigid  forehand  cannot 
work  in  unison.  Both  should  be  elastic  in  equal 
degree. 

For  the  purpose  of  beginning  the  croup  flex- 
ions, you  can  best  use  the  stable  floor,  or  other 
convenient  spot,  say  after  mounting  as  you  start, 
or  before  dismounting  as  you  return  from  your 
ride,  or,  better,  both.  And  this  is  what  you 
should  do. 

Suppose  you  are  standing  on  the  stable  floor, 
mounted.  Any  other  place  will  do,  but  you  want 
to  be  where  you  are  quite  undisturbed.  Bring 
Nelly  in  hand  by  gathering  up  the  reins  quietly, 
so  as  not  to  disturb  her  equanimity  or  her  posi- 
tion.    Perhaps  you  had  better  hold  the  reins  in 


Side  Step  of  Hind  Feet.  127 

both  hands  for  these  exercises.  At  all  times,  in- 
deed, it  is  well  that  a  horse  should  be  kept  ac- 
quainted with  the  feel  of  the  two  hands.  In 
many  respects,  and  for  many  purposes,  I  am  an 
advocate  of  two  hands  in  riding.  Do  not  misun- 
derstand me  on  this  point.  My  plea  is  for  such 
education  that  one  hand  may  suffice  for  all  needs, 
when  the  other  can  be  better  employed  than  with 
the  reins ;  but  I  myself  often  use  both  my  hands, 
perhaps  even  half  the  time. 

Nelly  being  collected,  gently  press  one  foot 
towards  her  flank,  if  need  be  till  the  spur  touches 
her.  She  will  naturally  move  away  from  it  by  a 
side  step  with  her  hind  feet.  You  should  have 
kept  her  head  so  well  in  hand  that  she  will  not 
have  moved  her  fore  feet.  So  soon  as  she  makes 
this  one  side  step,  stop  and  caress  her.  Try  once 
more  with  the  same  foot.  Same  result,  and  you 
will  again  reward  her  with  a  kind  word.  Do  not 
at  first  try  to  make  her  take  two  steps  consecu- 
tively. If  you  do  so,  she  may,  having  failed  to 
satisfy  you  with  one  step,  and  imagining  that  you 
want  something  else,  try  to  step  towards  the  spur 
instead  of  away  from  it,  and  you  will  have  thus 
lost  some  ground.  A  horse  argues  very  simply, 
and  if  one  course  does  not  seem  to  comply  with 
his  rider's  will,  he  almost  always  and  at  once  tries 
the  other.  After  a  few  days,  you  will  find  that 
Nelly  will  side  step  very  nicely,  one  or  two  steps 


128       Circling  with  Forehand  and  Croup, 

at  a  time,  and  before  long  she  will  do  so  in  either 
direction.  You  cannot,  however,  consider  her  as 
perfect  until  she  can  handily  complete  the  circle, 
with  the  opposite  fore  foot  immovably  planted,  in 
either  direction  at  will,  and  without  disturbing 
her  equilibrium.  But  this  is  much  harder  to  do, 
and  if  you  propose  to  give  Nelly  a  college  educa- 
tion you  must  first  qualify  yourself  as  professor. 

You  should  now  at  the  same  time  test  how  well 
you  have  taught  Penelope  to  guide  by  the  neck. 
If  you  will  use  the  pressure  of  your  legs  judi- 
ciously, so  as  to  prevent  her  from  moving  her 
hind  feet  at  all,  you  should  be  able  to  describe 
part  of  a  circle  about  them  by  such  use  of  the 
reins  as  to  make  her  side  step  with  the  fore  feet. 
When  she  can  take  two  or  three  steps  with  fore 
or  hind  feet  to  either  side  quickly,  and  at  will, 
keeping  the  hind  or  fore  feet  in  place,  you  have 
made  a  very  substantial  gain  in  her  training. 

There  can  be,  of  course,  only  one  pivot  foot.  It 
is  the  one  opposite  the  direction  in  which  you  are 
moving  the  croup  or  forehand.  But  to  teach 
Nelly  to  use  the  proper  pivot  foot  you  must  begin 
much  more  carefully,  and  it  is  perhaps  not  neces- 
sary, if  you  aspire  only  to  train  her  for  road  use, 
to  be  so  particular. 

Properly  speaking,  you  ought  about  this  time 
to  give  Nelly  a  little  side  suppling  of  the  neck,  so 
as  to  make  the  parts  respond  readily  to  your  will. 


Side  Flexions  of  Neck.  1 2  9 

This  is  done  first  on  foot,  by  gently  turning  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  curb  bit  in  a  horizontal  plane, 
so  as  to  force  her  head  to  either  side  and  make 
her  arch  her  neck,  without  allowing  her  to  shift 
feet.  Later,  it  is  done  by  drawing  one  curb  rein 
over  her  neck  so  as  to  bring  her  head  sidewise 
down  towards  the  shoulder,  while  steadying  her 
with  a  less  marked  pressure  on  the  other  rein. 
To  do  this  properly,  the  Baucher  diagrams,  or  a 
longer  description,  would  be  useful.  When  the 
neck  is  in  this  exercise  perfectly  flexed,  she  will  be 
looking  to  the  rear.  With  some  little  practice 
Nelly  will  thus  readily,  at  call,  bring  her  head  way 
round  to  the  saddle-flap,  with  neck  arched,  and 
mouthing  her  bit.  Later  still,  you  can  practice 
this  flexion  mounted,  by  holding  both  reins,  and 
pulling  a  trifle  more  strongly  on  one  curb  than 
on  the  other,  and  steadying  her  by  voice  and  leg 
to  prevent  her  from  moving.  This  exercise  will 
make  it  physically  easier  for  Nelly  by  and  by  to 
respond  to  your  demands,  for  her  neck  will  be  flex- 
ible enough  for  her  to  hold  her  head  in  any  de- 
sired position  without  undue  effort.  And  the 
same  thing  can  be  done  in  motion,  if  this  is  not 
too  rapid. 

As  already  said,  the  circular  movement  de- 
scribed (termed  a  pirouette  about  the  hind,  and  a 
reversed  pirouette  about  the  fore  feet)  should  be 
made  on  one   absolutely  unmoved  fore  or  hind 


1 30  The  Pirouettes  and  Traverse. 

foot  as  pivot.  For,  plainly,  both  feet  cannot  act 
as  one  pivot  without  twisting  the  legs.  This  pir- 
ouette is  really  a  "low  pirouette,"  the  pirouette 
proper  being  a  movement  by  the  horse  poised  on 
his  hind  legs  alone,  describing  the  circle  with  fore 
legs  in  the  air,  which  is  a  vastly  finer  performance. 

It  will  suffice  for  you,  though,  Tom,  if  Nelly 
will  make  the  pirouette,  simple  or  reversed,  with- 
out substantially  shifting  the  position  of  the  two 
pivot  feet.  But  you  must  remember  that  if  you 
start  with  a  half-and-half  education,  it  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  perfect  the  training  than  if  you  start  in 
a  more  systematic  manner ;  and  I  do  not  pretend 
that  these  are  the  proper,  but  only  easy  methods. 

It  is  by  the  union  of  the  side  steps  of  forehand 
and  croup,  the  former  always  a  trifle  in  advance, 
that  a  horse  is  taught  to  "  traverse,"  that  is,  to 
move  sideways  at  a  walk,  trot,  or  gallop.  But  the 
traverse  is  a  School  gait  rarely  needed  on  the 
road,  and  a  horse  may  be  trained  to  entire  use- 
fulness without  being  able  to  traverse,  as  a  gait, 
if  he  can  willingly  make  a  few  quick  side  steps 
in  either  direction.  Moreover,  to  properly  trav- 
erse, a  horse  should  be  taught  the  passage,  which 
is  a  gait  in  which  the  feet  are  raised  much  higher, 
by  the  inducement  of  the  spur  and  the  indication 
of  the  rein,  than  the  horse  would  naturally  lift 
them.  The  passage  is  put  to  use  in  very  many 
of  the  airs  of  the  manege. 


Teaching  the  Lead,  131 

XXXIX. 

To  revert  now  to  the  canter,  for  which  the 
pirouettes  are  preparations.  There  are  two  or 
three  ways  of  teaching  a  horse  to  lead  with  either 
foot,  but  the  best  way  is  to  begin  with  the  flex- 
ions which  I  have  just  described  to  you,  and  the 
more  perfect  these  are,  the  easier  and  quicker  the 
progress,  and  the  more  satisfactory  the  result. 

If  you  have  not  patience  to  wade  through  all 
these,  you  may  try  the  following  plan,  which  is 
founded  on  the  natural  instincts  and  balance  of 
the  horse,  but  for  the  execution  of  which,  with 
your  load  on  his  back,  he  has  not  been  prepared. 

A  horse  will  lead  with  the  off  foot  most  readily 
if  he  is  going  round  a  circle  to  the  right ;  with 
the  near  foot,  if  circling  to  the  left.  In  other 
words,  the  foot  which  will  quickest  sustain  his 
weight  against  the  centrifugal  motion  is  the  one 
which  is  planted  first,  that  is,  the  foot  not  lead- 
ing. The  way  a  horse  is  taught  in  a  riding- 
school  to  lead  with  either  foot  is  by  associating 
the  proper  indication  to  do  so  with  the  lead  he 
naturally  takes  as  he  canters  around  the  right  or 
left  of  the  ring,  or  changes  direction  in  what  are 
called  the  voltes  in  teaching  pupils.  But  I  have 
seen  many  horses  who  would  do  this  very  readily 
inside  school  walls,  who  were  very  stupid  or  re- 
fractory on  a  straight  bit  of  road.     I  think  this  is 


132  '"'False'''  Canter. 

universally  true,  in  fact,  and  that  is  why  I  recom- 
mend road  teaching  whenever  practicable. 

It  cannot  be  alleged  that  every  horse  will  al- 
ways use  the  proper  foot  in  the  lead.  A  horse 
unused  to  cantering  with  a  rider's  weight  upon 
his  back  may  do  all  kinds  of  awkward  things 
which  at  liberty,  or  when  trained,  he  will  not  at- 
tempt to  do.  But  the  above  way  of  leading  is  the 
natural  thing,  and  that  which  a  horse  generally 
does  when  at  liberty ;  and  it  is  not  hard  to  induce 
him  to  do  what  comes  naturally  to  him,  nor  by 
practice  to  strengthen  the  habit. 

The  action  of  the  legs  of  the  leading  side  is 
higher  in  the  canter  and  the  gallop  than  that  of 
the  other  pair.  A  horse  is  said  to  be  "  false  "  in 
his  canter  or  gallop  if  he  turns  with  a  wrong  lead, 
that  is,  if  he  turns  to  the  right  until  he  alters  his 
lead  to  the  right  shoulder,  unless  he  is  already  so 
leading,  or  vice  versa.  This  is  true  of  sharp 
turns,  which  may  indeed  cause  a  dangerous  fall  if 
"  false,"  but  a  horse  can  safely  make  turns  with  a 
long  radius  and  good  footing  without  altering  his 
lead,  and  this  is  often  convenient  to  be  done. 
But  if  the  ground  is  slippery,  it  is  a  risk  to  turn 
a  sharp  corner  with  a  wrong  lead.  I  have  often 
seen  men  punish  a  horse  for  slipping  at  such  a 
turn,  when  it  was  solely  owing  to  the  false  lead 
that  he  did  so ;  and  the  false  lead  was  either  the 
lack  of  education  in  the  horse  or  the   rider,  or 


Plate  XII. 


A   TWENTY-FOOT   LEAP. 


Cantering  in  a  Circle.  133 

both.  Sometimes  a  horse  will  be  leading  with 
one  shoulder,  and  following  with  the  alternate 
hind  leg.  He  is  then  said  to  be  "  disunited,"  or 
"disconnected."  The  leg  or  spur,  applied  on 
either  side  to  bring  him  to  the  proper  lead,  will 
soon  correct  this  error,  as  it  is  equally  disagree- 
able to  horse  and  rider,  and  it  is  a  relief  to  both 
to  change  it. 

Now,  acting  on  this  theory  of  the  horse  having 
a  natural  lead,  suppose  you  canter  Nelly  about  in 
a  circle  small  enough  to  induce  her  to  use  the 
proper  leg  in  the  lead.  A  circle  fifty  feet  in  di- 
ameter will  do.  At  the  same  time  apply  a  con- 
stant but  slight  pressure  of  your  leg  on  the  side 
opposite  her  leading  shoulder.  She  will  by  and 
by  associate  this  pressure  with  what  you  want  her 
to  do.  Stick  to  one  direction  long  enough,  say 
three  or  four  days,  to  impress  the  idea  on  her 
mind,  and  she  will  be  rather  apt  to  keep  it  in 
memory.  Then  try  the  other  direction  with  op- 
posite pressure,  and  you  will  gradually  get  the 
opposite  result. 

Again,  a  horse  canters  best  with  off  shoulder 
leading,  if  moving  along  the  side  of  a  hill  which 
slopes  up  to  his  right,  and  vice  versa.  Thus,  if 
you  keep  on  the  left  side  of  most  roads,  where 
the  grade  slopes  towards  the  gutter,  you  will  find 
that  Nelly  will  lead  best  with  her  right  shoulder. 
This  is  for  the  same  reason.    She  wishes  to  plant 


134  Cantering  on  a  Slope. 

quickest  that  foot  which  will  keep  her  from  slip- 
ping down  hill.  If  she  is  on  the  right  of  the 
road  she  will  lead  best  with  the  left  shoulder. 
She  will,  perhaps,  not  do  this  as  readily  as  on  the 
circle,  but  she  will  be  apt  to  do  it.  If  you  should 
watch  a  horse  in  the  circus  ring,  you  would  notice 
that  this  is  apparently  not  true.  But  the  slanting 
path  of  the  circus  ring  is  really  not  on  a  slant  at 
all,  when  we  calculate  the  centrifugal  force  of  the 
motion  around  so  small  a  circle.  It  is  as  if  a 
horse  were  moving  on  a  horizontal  plane,  for  he  is 
really  perpendicular  to  the  slanting  path  ;  and  its 
tipped  position  is  governed  by  the  same  mathe- 
matical rule  as  the  road-bed  of  a  railroad  curve. 

You  may  utilize  this  slanting  instinct  also  in 
the  same  fashion  as  the  circle  first  mentioned  for 
getting  the  elementary  idea  into  Nelly's  head  that 
pressure  on  one  side  means  leading  with  the  op- 
posite shoulder.  Moreover,  the  side  of  the  road, 
which  is  the  slope  most  handy,  has  the  additional 
advantage  of  being  generally  the  softest  cantering 
ground. 

There  is  an  upward  play  of  the  rein,  which 
can  be  explained  only  to  the  student  who  has  ad- 
vanced some  distance  in  the  art,  which  tends  to 
lighten,  or  invigorate  one  or  the  other  side  of  a 
horse,  and  thus  induce  him,  coupled  with  other 
means,  to  make  the  long  strides,  that  is,  lead,  with 
the  lightened  or  active  shoulder.     But  you,  Tom, 


Cantering  in  a  Figure  Eight.  135 

will  not  be  able  to  use  this  until  you  have  de- 
voted more  time  to  study  as  well  as  practice. 

After  you  have  tried  the  circle  to  your  satisfac- 
tion, try  cantering  in  a  figure  eight  of  sufficient 
size.  Nelly  will  thereby  learn  instinctively  to 
change  step  as  she  comes  to  the  loops.  You  can 
probably  find  a  field  or  lawn  somewhere  on  which 
you  can  practice.  Out-of-door  instruction  is  al- 
ways preferable  to  riding-school  work,  if  equally 
good,  both  for  man  and  beast.  And  such  instruc- 
tion as  these  hints  are  intended  to  enable  you  to 
give,  will  teach  you  more  than  the  average  riding- 
school  ever  does.  I  by  no  means  refer  to  those 
schools  which  teach  equitation  as  a  true  art,  in- 
stead of  merely  drilling  you  in  the  bald  elements 
of  riding.  Nor  is  there  any  better  place  to  give 
Nelly  proper  instruction  than  a  riding-school,  un- 
less it  be  the  lawn  or  field.  What  you  teach 
Nelly  out-of-doors  you  will  find  her  much  more 
willing  and  able  to  put  into  use  on  the  road  than 
if  she  had  gone  through  the  same  drill  in  a  school. 

XL. 

The  above  is,  of  course,  the  crudest  of  methods 
compared  with  the  best  School  systems,  but  if 
you  have  taught  Nelly  her  side  steps  (or  pirou- 
ettes), as  I  have  described  them  to  you,  or  in  other 
words  have  to  a  certain  extent  suppled  her  fore- 
hand and  croup  by  the  proper  flexions,  you  can 


136  A  Better  Way  to  Teach. 

start  in  a  more  certain  way.  You  must  not  ex- 
pect to  succeed  at  once.  Success  depends  upon 
Nelly's  intelligence,  your  own  patience,  and  the 
delicate  perceptions  of  both.  I  assume  that  you 
will  have  already  taught  Nelly  to  canter  when- 
ever you  wish  her  to  do  so,  though  she  may  have 
been  selecting  her  own  lead.  Now,  you  can,  of 
course,  see,  when  you  want  her  to  canter,  that  if 
you  keep  her  head  straight  with  the  reins  and 
press  upon  her  near  flank  with  your  leg,  she  will 
throw  her  croup  away  from  your  leg,  and  be  for 
the  moment  out  of  the  true  line  of  advance. 
This  is  bad  for  the  walk  or  the  trot,  but  just 
what  you  want  to  induce  her  to  start  the  canter 
with  the  off  shoulder  leading.  For  if  you  can 
keep  her  in  this  position  until  she  takes  the  can- 
ter, she  will  be  more  apt  to  lead  of¥  with  her  right 
shoulder,  because  the  forcing  of  her  croup  to  the 
right  has  also  pushed  this  shoulder  in  advance 
of  the  other.  If  at  the  same  time  she  is  traveling 
along  a  slope  which  runs  up  from  her  right,  say 
the  left  side  of  the  road,  or  on  a  circle  turning  to 
the  right,  she  will  be  all  the  more  apt  to  do  this. 
You  can  aid  her  also  by  a  little  marked  play 
with  the  right  rein,  which  will  tend  to  enliven 
that  side,  and  by  giving  it  increased  action,  aid  in 
bringing  it  forward,  even  if  not  done  with  entire 
expertness. 

A  number  of   English  writers  state  that   the 


Indications  Based  on  Instincts.  1 37 

proper  indication  for  the  lead  with  the  right  foot 
is  a  tap  of  the  whip  on  the  right  side,  but  this  ap- 
pears to  be  lacking  in  good  theory,  and  might 
prove  very  confusing  to  a  horse,  despite  the  fact 
that  the  animal  can  be  made  to  learn  anything  as 
an  indication.  A  tap  of  the  whip  under  the  right 
elbow  would  be  more  consistent  with  the  horse's 
action,  although  it  is  quite  possible,  as  a  feat,  to 
teach  a  horse  to  lead  with  the  off  shoulder  by 
pulling  his  off  ear,  or  his  tail,  for  the  matter  of 
that.  But  indications  are  best  when  they  tally 
with  a  sound  theory  of  the  horse's  motions. 

Reverse  causes  will  induce  Nelly  to  lead  with 
the  left  shoulder.  Not,  of  course,  at  once.  For 
though  she  will  do  it  in  a  circle  or  figure  eight, 
on  the  road  she  may  still  be  often  confused.  It 
requires  much  time  and  practice  to  make  her  per- 
fect. But  once  Nelly  catches  the  idea,  you  can 
surely  succeed  in  impressing  it  on  her  for  good 
and  all,  and  though  she  will  blunder  often  enough, 
she  will  in  the  end  learn  it  thoroughly. 

When  you  start  out  to  make  Nelly  lead  off 
with  one  shoulder,  be  sure  you  accomplish  your 
object.  If  she  leads  off  with  the  other,  stop  her 
at  once,  and  try  again.  Always  succeed  with  a 
horse  in  what  you  undertake.  If  you  cannot,  on 
any  given  day,  make  Nelly  lead  right,  do  not  let 
her  canter  at  all,  but  keep  her  on  a  trot  or  a  walk. 
It  requires  a  number  of  successful  trials  to  make 


1 38  How  to  Change  Lead. 

it  plain  to  the  intelligence  of  a  horse  that  he  has 
done  what  you  want,  and  is  to  do  it  again  on  sim- 
ilar indications.  It  is,  therefore,  well  for  him  not 
to  have  to  learn  too  many  new  lessons  at  once. 

XLI. 

To  change  lead  in  motion  is  harder  for  the 
horse  and  rider  both  to  learn,  and  there  is  no  bet- 
ter test  of  a  well-trained  horse  than  an  immediate 
and  balanced  change  of  lead  on  call.  A  canter  is 
a  gait  somewhat  similar  to  the  gallop,  though  the 
feet  move  and  come  down  in  different  progres- 
sion. But  at  certain  times  one  or  more  of  the 
four  feet  are  successively  sustaining  the  weight, 
and  there  is  an  interval  when  the  horse  is  unsup- 
ported in  the  air,  or  has  only  one  hind  foot  upon 
the  ground.  It  is  this  last  period  which  the  horse 
chooses  in  which  to  change  his  lead.  Now,  sup- 
pose you  are  cantering  with  Nelly's  right  shoulder 
leading,  and  want  her  to  change  to  the  left.  If 
you  press  upon  her  right  flank  with  your  leg, 
she  will  want  to  shift  her  croup  to  the  left.  This 
will  incline  her  naturally  to  turn  her  head  to  the 
right,  which  inclination  you  must  counteract  with 
as  little  motion  as  possible  of  the  reins.  Nelly 
will  thus  find  that  she  is  cantering  uncomfortably 
to  herself,  and  if  you  will  keep  along  in  this  way 
for  a  few  strides,  she  will  very  likely  shift  to  her 
left  lead,  because  the  constraint  of  your  leg  and 


Rider  Controls  Horse  s  Discretion.        1 39 

the  bit  are  irksome  while  she  continues  to  lead 
with  the  right,  and  she  will  try  what  she  can  do  to 
get  rid  of  the  restraint.  She  certainly  will  change 
after  a  while,  particularly  if  aided  by  the  circle  or 
slope,  even  if  she  does  it  because  she  does  not 
know  what  else  to  do.  And  by  rousing  or  light- 
ening the  left  shoulder  by  a  play  of  the  left  rein 
you  will  materially  aid  the  change.  So  soon  as. 
she  has  changed,  reward  her  by  a  few  words,  and 
canter  along  on  the  new  lead. 

The  reverse  accomplishes  a  similar  result.  It 
will  probably  take  you  many  weeks  to  bring  about 
all  this.  If  you  do  it  in  a  few  weeks,  you  will 
succeed  far  beyond  the  average.  But  the  process 
of  teaching  an  intelligent  horse,  if  you  are  pa- 
tient, is  as  pleasant  as  the  result  of  the  lessons 
is  agreeable,  after  they  have  had  their  due  effect. 

A  horse  should  be  so  well  trained  as  to  be 
ready  to  turn  with  a  "  false  "  lead  if  you  ask  him 
to  do  so.  Left  to  himself,  he  should  take  the 
proper  lead  at  the  moment  of  turning.  But  he 
must  obey  you  to  the  extent  of  doing  what  he 
would  otherwise  not  do,  and  should  properly  not 
do,  if  you  give  him  the  indication.  And  this 
without  becoming  confused,  so  as  to  fail  to  do  the 
proper  thing  on  the  next  occasion. 

Though  I  by  no  means  hold  up  Patroclus  to- 
day as  a  model  performer  of  School-paces,  which 
I  am  perhaps  too  lazy  to  keep  him  as  perfect  in 


140     Samples  of  Good  and  Bad  Training, 

as  I  ought  to  do,  the  results  of  good  training  still 
remain.  I  sometimes,  when  out  of  sight,  canter 
him  quite  a  stretch,  say  quarter  of  a  mile,  chang- 
ing lead,  first  every  fourth  stride,  then  every  third 
stride,  then  every  second,  in  regular  rhythmic  suc- 
cession. If  Patroclus  fails  to  do  this  feat  vi^ith  ex- 
actness, I  can  always  recognize  my  own  error  in 
too  late  an  indication,  rather  than  his  in  obeying 
it.  It  is  possible  to  canter  him  very  slowly  with 
a  change  of  lead  at  every  stride,  but  such  work  is 
very  exhausting  to  a  horse,  and  I  have  not  often 
done  it.  This  latter  feat  must  be  done  so  slowly 
that  the  gait  is  properly  not  a  canter ;  but  Patro- 
clus can  perform  the  true  canter,  and  change  at 
every  second  step  readily  for  several  hundred 
yards. 

There  are  undoubtedly  many  well-trained  horses 
in  Boston,  very  likely  more  highly  trained  ones 
than  I  am  aware  of ;  but  certainly  the  great  ma- 
jority of  saddle  beasts  possess  scarcely  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education.  This  seems  to  be  a  pity, 
when  it  requires  so  little  labor  to  give  them  one, 
if  their  owners  will  but  learn  how  to  do  so. 

Not  long  ago  a  friend  of  mine,  and  an  old  rider 
too,  was  exhibiting  to  me  a  recently  purchased 
horse,  for  whom  he  had  paid  a  high  price,  be- 
cause he  was  said  to  have  come  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  some  noted  trainer.  The  horse  would 
fall  into  a  canter  with  his  own  lead  readily  enough, 


Backing.  141 

but  when,  after  a  struggle  of  some  hundred  yards, 
he  was  made  to  lead  with  the  foot  selected  by  the 
rider,  it  was  thought  to  be  a  triumph  of  clever- 
ness. Is  not  this  a  common  case  ?  And  would 
it  not  be  well  to  rectify  it  ? 

XLII. 

There  are  a  number  of  little  exercises  which 
you  ought  by  no  means  to  omit,  as,  for  instance, 
practicing  Nelly  in  backing  quickly,  handily,  and 
without  losing  her  balance.  This  is  only  to  be 
done  by  slow  degrees,  a  few  steps  at  a  time,  and 
by  generously  rewarding  progress  as  she  increases 
her  number  of  backward  steps.  Never  force  her. 
Use  persuasion  only.  In  doing  this,  watch  that 
she  is  always  well  poised.  Otherwise  she  cannot 
back  properly.  You  must  also  teach  her,  by  that 
use  of  the  reins  and  legs  which  you  will  already 
have  learned,  to  change  direction  as  she  backs,  as 
easily  as  she  does  in  moving  forward.  These 
necessary  things  she  has  already  been  crudely 
taught  in  her  breaking-in. 

If  Nelly  has  the  pride  of  a  courageous  horse, 
as  I  should  judge  by  her  bright  eye  that  she  had, 
she  will  be  fairly  greedy  of  kind  words  and  ca- 
resses. And  I  trust  you  will  never  allow  her  to 
become  afraid  of  the  whip.  You  should  be  able 
to  switch  your  whip  all  about  her  face  without 
her  heeding  it.     Reward  goes  much  farther  than 


142  What  a  Lady  May  Do. 

punishment.  The  latter  needs  very  rarely  to  be 
resorted  to.  I  have  never  used  it,  barring  in  iso- 
lated cases,  but  what  afterwards  I  was  ashamed  of 
it,  and  not  infrequently  I  have  made  most  sincere 
apology  and  amends  to  the  sufferer.  But  the 
harm  done  has  always  been  hard  to  eradicate. 
An  impatient  man  quickly  loses  his  standing  in 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  an  intelligent 
horse.  In  your  training,  a  whip  will  be  much 
more  useful  than  a  crop.  The  latter  is  but  a 
badge  of  fashion,  of  absolutely  no  use  on  the 
road,  and  of  but  little  in  education. 

Now,  Tom,  I  have  suggested  to  you  a  number 
of  very  crude  rules  for  training  your  mare.  Like 
Captain  Jack  Bunsby  I  ought  to  add  that  "  the 
bearings  of  this  observation  lays  in  the  applica- 
tion on  it."  But  by  the  patient  aid  of  even  these 
simple  methods,  intelligently  used,  you  will  have 
given  Nelly  an  easy  mouth,  you  will  have  suppled 
her  forehand  and  croup,  and  you  will  have  taught 
her  to  canter  with  either  foot  in  the  lead. 

Everything  which  I  have  told  you  can  be  put 
to  use  by  a  lady  as  well  as  a  man.  But  a  lady 
needs  preliminary  teaching  in  a  school,  because  it 
is  neither  pleasant  nor  safe  for  her  to  be  on  the 
road  quite  untaught.  But  having  acquired  a 
seat  and  some  little  control  of  her  horse,  she  can 
apply  all  the  rules  I  have  given  you,  using  her 
whip  as  a  man  would  use  his  right  leg.     The 


Commencing  to  Leap.  143 

short  skirts  of  the  day  enable  her  to  use  her  left 
leg  as  readily  as  you  can. 

The  gallop  comes  of  itself,  and  needs  but  care 
that  your  own  position  is  good  and  does  not 
lose  firmness  or  interfere  with  your  hands.  Bet- 
ter sit  down  to  the  gallop.  The  jockey  habit  of 
galloping  in  the  stirrups  is  rarely  of  use  except 
as  a  means  of  changing  your  own  seat  and  some- 
times of  easing  your  horse  across  ploughed  fields 
or  bad  ground.     It  is  never  proper  for  the  road. 

XLIII. 

Having  got  thus  far,  you  will  surely  want  to 
teach  the  mare  to  jump  and  yourself  to  sit  her 
firmly  when  she  does  so.  Perhaps  you  may 
choose  to  defer  the  tedious  processes  described 
and  go  at  jumping  at  once. 

If  you  think  you  can  sit  a  fairish  jump,  prob- 
ably the  best  plan  is  to  follow  the  hounds  in  a 
quiet  way  some  day,  if  it  happens  to  be  in  their 
season.  A  great  many  horses  will  jump  imita- 
tively  when  in  company  and  do  pretty  clean  sim- 
ple work.  There  is  a  bit  of  a  chance  for  a  blun- 
der this  way,  because  a  horse  unused  to  jumping 
cannot  gauge  his  work  and  may  come  down. 
But  by  taking  him  slowly  at  his  fences,  perhaps 
at  a  walk,  there  is  comparatively  little  risk.  It  is 
the  exceptional  horse  who  will  jump  well  in  cold 
blood,  like  Patroclus  in  the  illustrations.      But 


144  How  to  Begin. 

any  horse  can  be  taught  to  do  so  in  a  measure, 
and  no  horse  can  be  called  a  hunter  unless  he 
will  do  so  cleverly. 

If  you  first  go  out  with  the  hounds,  there  is 
some  danger  that  if  your  seat  is  insecure  you 
will  drag  Nelly  back  from  her  leaps,  and  worry 
or  confuse  her  so  much  that  you  will  lose  a  deal 
of  ground.  Though,  indeed,  she  will  be  less  read- 
ily spoiled  if  she  gets  excited  by  the  chase,  than 
if  put  at  equally  high  jumps  as  a  lesson,  because 
her  eagerness  to  keep  up  with  the  other  horses 
will  exceed  her  annoyance  at  your  unsteady 
hands. 

I  would  advise  you,  on  the  whole,  to  have  a  lit- 
tle practice  in  some  quiet  spot  all  by  yourself.  A 
horse  who  will  only  jump  in  company  is  far  from 
perfect  in  this  accomplishment.  A  well-trained 
horse  should  jump  a  three  and  a  half  foot  gate  or 
an  eight  foot  ditch  at  any  time  as  willingly  as 
start  into  a  sharp  gallop. 

I  assume  that  Nelly  knows  nothing  of  leaping. 
Wander  off  into  the  fields  somewhere.  Find  a 
place  where  there  is  a  gate  or  fence  of  several 
bars.  Let  all  these  down  but  one  or  two,  —  leav- 
ing enough  in  height  for  Nelly  to  step  over  if 
she  lifts  her  feet  way  up,  —  say  twenty  inches. 
A  fallen  log  is  an  excellent  thing  to  try  on. 
Make  her  cross  and  recross  the  bar  or  log  a  num- 
ber of   times,   by  persuasion   only.     Any  horse 


Plate  XIII. 


ABOUT   TO  LAND. 


Jumping  the  Same  Obstacle,  145 

will  step  over  a  high  bar  if  you  stand  him  in  front 
of  it  and  encourage  him.  Don't  scold  or  strike 
her.  Nothing  disheartens  the  learning  or  cour- 
ageous horse  so  much. 

From  the  days  of  Xenophon  down,  any  one 
who  loses  his  temper  in  training  a  horse,  or  uses 
any  but  gentle  means,  violates  the  precept,  prac- 
tice, and  experience  of  all  successful  horsemen. 

"  But  never  to  approach  a  horse  in  a  fit  of 
anger  is  the  one  great  precept  and  maxim  of  con- 
duct in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  a  horse ;  for 
anger  is  destitute  of  forethought,  and  conse- 
quently often  does  that  of  which  the  agent  must 
necessarily  repent."     Xen.  Horsemanship,  vi.  13. 

Curiously  enough,  in  spite  of  this  rule,  Xeno- 
phon advocates  the  use  of  the  whip  and  spur  in 
teaching  a  horse  to  leap  —  the  gravest  error,  I 
think,  of  this  exceedingly  sensible  horseman. 

It  has  been  said  that  you  should  not  make  a 
horse  keep  on  jumping  the  same  obstacle,  because 
he  sees  no  reason  for  doing  it,  and  feels  that  you 
are  making  a  fool  of  him.  But  my  experience  is 
that  a  horse  likes  to  jump  at  any  well-known 
thing,  if  he  has  been  petted  or  rewarded  for  clev- 
erly clearing  it.  A  horse  who  has  been  given  a 
bit  of  sugar  or  apple  after  jumping  is  far  from 
feeling  that  he  has  been  made  a  fool  of,  even  if 
he  is  jumped  a  dozen  times  over  the  same  obsta- 
cle.    And  every  horse  goes  with  double   confi- 


146  Rising  to  the  Leap. 

dence  at  a  thing  he  has  leaped  before.  It  is  the 
horse  who  knows  the  country  who  makes  easiest 
headway  and  quickest  after  hounds,  and  is  often- 
est  in  at  the  death.  At  the  same  time  it  is  true 
that  a  horse  can  be  spoiled  by  leaping  him  in 
cold  blood  much  more  easily  than  when  in  the 
company  of  many  others.  And  it  is  also  true  that 
if  a  horse  is  ridden  at  different  things  in  succes- 
sion, if  such  can  be  readily  found,  he  learns  to 
take  whatever  comes  in  his  path  more  handily 
than  if  he  is  confined  to  only  one  jump.  Still, 
after  once  learning  to  jump  any  one  obstacle,  the 
lesson  is  easily  carried  farther  by  riding  across 
simple  bits  of  country. 

As  soon  as  Nelly  walks  right  over  the  bar 
without  hesitation  or  any  pause  longer  than 
enough  to  lift  her  feet,  walk  or  jog  her  up  to  it  a 
bit  faster.  She  will  soon  find  that  it  is  less  exer- 
tion for  her  to  rise  to  it  with  both  feet  at  once, 
;and  hop  over  it,  than  to  lift  her  feet  so  high.  As 
soon  as  she  has  caught  this  idea,  reward  her  with 
a  nibble  of  something,  for  she  has  made  her  first 
step  in  learning  the  lesson.  A  little  sugar,  salt, 
or  a  bit  of  apple,  or  a  green  leaf  or  two,  or  a 
bunch  of  grass  you  will  find  to  be  wonderful  in- 
centives. 

Don't  raise  the  bar  too  soon  or  too  much. 
When  Nelly  is  quite  familiar  with  the  small  jump 
at  a  slow  gait,  trot  her  at  it.     Most  horses  can 


Trotting  at  a  Jump.  147 

jump  well  from  a  trot.  In  fact  some  of  the  best 
riders  alwg,ys  trot  up  to  timber.  It  is  a  tempta- 
tion of  Providence  to  try  to  fly  a  stiff  bit  of  tim- 
ber, unless  you  have  a  wonderful  jumper  who 
knows  you  well,  or  unless  you  are  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  run,  when  your  horse  is  in  his  best  con- 
dition ;  and  Providence  should  never  be  tempted 
except  when  a  considerable  result  lies  trembling 
in  the  balance. 

When  Nelly  takes  the  obstacle  cleverly  from  a 
trot,  canter  her  at  it,  and  gradually  she  will  take 
pleasure  in  hopping  over  it,  particularly  if  she 
now  and  then  gets  a  tidbit  at  the  other  side. 
Moreover,  this  tidbit  will  accomplish  another  ob- 
ject. It  will  teach  your  mare  not  to  rush  as  soon 
as  she  clears  her  fence,  which  a  horse  who  is 
whipped  at  his  jumps  almost  always  does.  By  in- 
sensible degrees  and  within  a  few  weeks  you  will 
get  Nelly  to  jump  three  feet  high,  or  even  three 
and  a  half.  If  she  can  do  this  in  cold  blood, 
"  clane  and  cliver,"  she  will  be  able  to  do  anything 
within  reason  which  you  need  when  in  company. 
You  can  try  her  in  just  the  same  way  at  small, 
then  at  large  ditches,  always  keeping  to  the  famil- 
iar place  and  rewarding  success,  until  Nelly  learns 
what  jumping  in  the  abstract  is.  After  that,  try 
her  at  all  kinds  of  things  in  moderation. 

There  is  more  than  a  grain  of  good  sense  in 
the  idea  that  a  horse  does  not  want  to  be  made  to 


1 48  One  or  Two  Handed  jumping, 

jump  unnecessarily.  And  it  is  true  that  some 
horses  get  stubborn  if  always  put  at  the  same  ob- 
stacle without  an  object.  But  if  a  horse  associates 
praise  and  reward  with  jumping,  he  will  be  ready 
for  it  at  any  proper  time.  You  should,  however, 
avoid  making  a  tired  horse  leap  except  when  it 
is  absolutely  necessary.  Let  him  do  this  work 
when  he  is  fresh.  You  of  course  know  that  a 
really  stanch  horse  is  usually  fresher  after  five  or 
ten  miles  of  average  speed  than  at  the  start.  The 
best  of  stayers  are  often  quite  dull  until  they  get 
their  legs  stretched  and  their  bodies  emptied. 
This  particularly  applies  to  aged  horses.  And 
perhaps  the  very  worst  time  to  jump  a  horse  is 
when  he  is  just  out  of  the  stall. 

XLIV. 

How  about  holding  the  reins  in  the  jump.? 
Well,  now  we  come  to  debatable  ground.  To- 
day's fashion  tells  you  to  use  both  hands.  The 
old-fashioned  English  habit,  as  well  as  the  neces- 
sary habit  of  the  soldier  and  of  all  other  riders 
who  have  work  to  do,  is  to  use  the  bridle  hand 
alone.  I  prefer  the  latter  habit.  Only  a  half- 
trained  horse  needs  both  hands.  A  good  jumper 
ought  to  want  to  jump,  not  have  to  be  steered 
and  shoved  over  an  obstacle.  I  am  willing  to 
allow  that  some  brutes  have  to  be  so  steered ;  but 
if  a  horse  is  well-taught,  likes  to  leap,  and  can  be 


A  Warm  Heart  and  a  Cool  Head.        1 49 

safely  ridden  at  an  obstacle  with  one  hand,  why 
use  two  ?  If  a  man  is  astride  a  horse  who  must 
be  steered,  let  him  use  both.  If  he  can  teach  his 
horse  to  be  true  at  his  jumps  with  but  one  hand, 
both  will  have  gained  a  point,  and  be  one  hand 
better  off.  For  two  hands  may  be  used  at  any 
time,  if  called  for. 

A  sound  and  vigorous  horse,  who  has  been 
properly  taught  to  jump,  will  take  anything  which 
he  feels  that  his  rider  himself  means  to  go  over. 
If  you  want  utterly  to  spoil  your  Nelly,  ride  her 
at  things  you  yourself  feel  uncertain  about  clear- 
ing. She  will  quickly  find  out  your  mood  from 
your  hands.  The  only  rule  for  keeping  your 
mare  true  to  her  work  is  never  to  ride  at  any- 
thing which  you  have  not  made  up  your  mind  to 
carry  her  over.  Be  true  to  yourself  in  your  am- 
bition to  jump,  and  Nelly  will  be  true  to  you.  It 
is  usually  the  horses  that  have  been  fooled  by  un- 
certain hearts  and  tremulous  hands  who  fail  you 
at  the  critical  moment,  or  who  have  to  be  steered 
over  their  fences.  So  long  as  your  horse  has 
jumping  ability,  and  you  have  a  "warm  heart  and 
a  cool  head,"  you  can  go  anywhere. 

A  generation  ago  no  one  was  ashamed  of  even 
letting  his  right  arm  fly  up  now  and  then,  for  it 
was  not  in  olden  times  the  extremity  of  "  bad 
form  "  which  it  is  now  pronounced  to  be.  Look 
over  Doyle  or  Leech  for  proof  of  this.     But  the 


150  Uses  for  Right  Arm, 

main  argument  against  the  unnecessary  use  of 
two  hands  is  that  you  may  absolutely  require 
your  right  hand  for  something  else,  while  it  cer- 
tainly argues  a  poor  training  or  character  in  a 
horse  to  make  it  a  sine  qua  non  for  you  to  em- 
ploy both  at  every  leap.  Of  what  avail  would  a 
trooper  be  in  a  charge,  with  his  horse  bounding 
over  dismounted  companions,  dead,  or,  worse  still, 
wounded  and  struggling  horses,  and  all  manner 
of  obstacles,  if  he  had  to  steer  his  horse  with  his 
sword-hand  ?  And  not  infrequently  you  will  find, 
in  the  peaceful  charge  after  harmless  Reynard, 
that  your  right  arm  is  better  employed  in  fend- 
ing off  blows  from  stray  branches  or  in  opening 
a  passage  through  a  close  cover,  than  in  hold- 
ing on  to  one  of  your  reins.  Have  you  never 
been  through  a  bullfinch  where  you  must  part 
the  clustering  branches  if  you  were  to  scramble 
through  and  avoid  the  wondrous  wise  man's 
bramble-bush  experience  ?  Have  you  never  felt 
your  hat  going  at  the  instant  your  horse  was  tak- 
ing off }  Have  you  never  seen  just  the  neatest 
place  in  the  hedge  obstructed  by  a  single  branch, 
which  your  right  arm  could  thrust  aside  as  you 
flew  over?  Have  you  never,  O  my  hunting 
brother,  had  to  make  an  awfully  sudden  grab  at 
your  horse's  mane  ? 

And  while  I  am  happy  to  defer  to  the  opinion 
of  some  of  the  most  noted  steeple-chasers  and 


How  to  Sit  a  Jump.  151 

first-flight  men  in  this  controversy,  when  they 
call  single-hand  jumping  a  hateful  practice,  and 
ascribe  to  it  half  the  bad  habits  of  the  hunter  and 
the  crooked  seats  of  the  rider,  I  am  satisfied  to 
look  at  the  portraits  of  such  wonderful  equestri- 
ans as  Captain  Percy  Williams,  or  Tom  Clarke, 
huntsman  of  the  Old  Berkshire,  and  a  dozen  oth- 
ers that  could  be  instanced,  all  using  the  bridle 
hand  alone,  and  some  of  them  even  forgetting 
that  it  is  "  bad  form  "  to  let  the  right  elbow  leave 
the  side.  Bad  form,  forsooth!  These  portraits 
would  scarcely  have  been  thus  painted  if  the  habit 
had  met  the  disapproval  of  the  celebrated  horse- 
men in  question. 

So  far  as  you  are  concerned,  Tom,  you  will 
learn  while  Penelope  is  learning.  Use  your  snaffle 
bit  alone.  A  man  needs  light  hands  to  jump  with 
a  curb,  or  else  his  horse  must  have  a  leather 
mouth.  Whenever  Nelly  has  made  up  her  mind 
to  jump,  let  her  have  her  head.  Don't  try  to  tell 
her  when  to  take  off.  Leave  that  to  her,  and 
don't  flurry  her  while  she  is  making  up  her  mind 
when  and  where  to  do  it.  Leave  that  to  the  very 
experienced  rider.  If  she  is  jumping  from  a 
stand,  or  slow  trot,  you  can  say  a  word  of  encour- 
agement to  her,  but  by  no  means  do  so  at  a  gal- 
lop, when  within  a  stride  or  two  of  the  jump.  Be 
ready,  however,  to  draw  rein  sufficient  to  give  her 
some  support  as  soon  as  she  has  landed. 


152  Landing  on  Hind  Legs. 

You  will  find  that  when  Nelly  jumps,  the 
strong  and  quick  extension  of  her  hind  legs  will 
throw  you  into  the  air  and  forward.  To  obviate 
this  settle  down  in  your  seat,  in  other  words, 
"  curl  your  sitting  bones  under  you,"  use  your 
legs  (not  your  heels),  and  lean  back  just  enough 
not  to  get  thrown  from  your  saddle.  Don't  try 
any  of  the  fancy  ideas  about  first  leaning  forward 
to  ease  her  croup  while  she  takes  off.  You  will 
come  a  cropper  if  you  do.  Lean  back.  It  will 
not  take  you  long  to  find  out  how  much,  and  the 
leaning  forward  will  come  of  itself. 

XLV. 

It  is  often  alleged  by  old  cross-country  riders 
that  the  best  hunters  land  on  their  hind  feet. 
Many  no  doubt  land  so  quickly  and  so  well  gath- 
ered that  they  give  to  the  eye  the  appearance  of 
so  doing.  But  I  doubt  if  photography  would 
really  show  them  to  land  other  than  on  one  fore 
foot,  instantly  relieved  by  the  second  one  planted 
a  short  stride  farther  on,  and  followed  by  the  cor- 
responding hind  ones  in  succession.  Plate  XIV. 
shows  what  I  mean,  and  the  same  thing  appears 
in  all  the  Muybridge  photographs.  But  your  eye 
can  by  no  means  catch  Patroclus  in  this  position. 
His  hind  legs  seem  to  follow  his  fore  legs  much 
more  closely ;  and  he  always  lands  cleverly  and  so 
well  gathered  as  to  make  not  the  slightest  falter 


Dont  Lose  your  Bridle.  153 

in  his  new  stride.  It  is  also  said  that  the  best 
water-jumpers  skim  and  do  not  rise  much  to  the 
jump.  But  I  fancy  that  every  horse  rises  more 
to  water  than  the  fancy  drawn  pictures  show. 
Gravitation  alone,  it  seems,  would  make  this  nec- 
essary. Photography  would  prove  the  fact,  but 
there  are  probably  not  enough  such  photographs 
extant  to-day  to  decide  upon  the  question. 

You  may  read  a  dozen  volumes  about  jumping, 
Tom,  but  a  dozen  jumps  will  teach  you  a  dozen 
times  as  much  as  the  printer's  ink.  And  remem- 
ber that  a  standing  or  an  irregular  jump,  even  if 
small,  or  that  the  leap  of  a  pony,  is  harder  to  sit 
than  a  well-timed  jump  of  twice  the  dimensions 
on  a  full  grown  horse.  I  have  been  nearly  dis- 
mounted in  teaching  a  new  horse  much  oftener 
than  in  the  hunting-field.  It  is  only  when  your 
horse  comes  down,  or  when  a  bad  jumper  rushes 
at  his  fence  and  then  swerves  or  refuses  suddenly, 
that  there  is  any  grave  danger  of  a  fall  in  riding 
to  hounds. 

Don't  be  afraid  of  a  fall.  It  won't  hurt  you 
much  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty.  If  you 
find  you  are  really  going  and  can't  save  yourself, 
don't  stiffen.  Try  to  flop,  the  more  like  a  drunken 
man  the  better.  It  is  rigid  muscles  which  break 
bones.  This  is  a  hard  rule  to  learn.  Many  falls 
alone  teach  its  uses.  A  suggestion  will  by  no 
means   do   so.     But  hold  on   to  your  reins  for 


154  A  Hog-Backed  Stile. 

your  life,  Tom,  when  you  fall.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  important  things  to  remember.  It  has  saved 
many  a  man  from  being  dragged. 

A  man  who  brags  that  he  has  never  had  a  fall 
may  be  set  down  as  having  never  done  much 
hard  riding.  Many  a  time  and  oft  have  the  very 
best  riders  and  their  steeds  entered  the  next  field 
in  Tom  Noddy's  order : 

Tom  Noddy  i. 

T.  N.'s  b.  g.  Dan  2. 

And  yet  how  few  bones  there  are  broken  for  the 
number  of  falls.  A  good  shaking  up  is  all  there 
is  to  it,  as  a  rule.  When  a  man  mellows  into 
middle  life  —  (how  much  farther  on  in  years 
middle  life  is  when  we  are  well  past  forty  than 
when  we  are  twenty-five !)  —  he  is  apt  to  feel  dis- 
creet, because  conscious  that  a  bad  spill  may 
hurt  him  worse  than  in  his  youth,  and  he  will 
look  upon  a  "  hog-backed  stile  "  as  a  thing  requir- 
ing a  deal  of  deliberation,  if  not  a  wee  bit  jump- 
ing-powder.  He  will  avoid  trying  conclusions 
whenever  he  can.  But  at  your  age  and  with  your 
legs,  on  that  mare  of  yours,  Tom,  you  should  go 
anywhere,  if  she  will  learn  to  jump  cleverly. 

Your  feet  should  be  "  home  "  in  the  stirrups, 
and  you  will  naturally  throw  them  slightly  back- 
ward as  you  hold  on,  toes  down,  because  it  both 
gives  you  the  better  grip  and  keeps  your  stirrup 


Hunting  and  School  Hands.  155 

on  your  foot.  In  this  particular,  Tom,  I  bid  you 
heed  my  precept,  and  not  study  my  example, 
which  is  by  no  means  of  the  best,  as  I  am  re- 
duced to  jumping  with  a  straight  leg,  and  to  fas- 
tening my  stirrup  to  my  foot,  lest  I  should  not 
find  it  when  I  land. 

XLVI. 

The  Englishman's  method  and  seat  for  cross- 
country riding  is  undeniably  the  best,  and  per- 
haps is  hardly  to  be  criticised.  But  a  good  seat 
or  hands  for  hunting  are  not  necessarily  good  for 
all  other  saddle  work.  That  firmness  in  the  sad- 
dle which  will  take  a  man  over  a  five-foot  wall 
may  not  be  of  the  same  quality  as  will  give  him 
absolutely  light  hands  for  School-riding.  For  as 
a  rule,  Englishmen  prefer  hunters  who  take  pretty 
well  hold  of  the  bridle,  and  work  well  up  to  the 
bit.  And  for  this  one  purpose,  perhaps  they  are 
right.  Such  a  hold  will  not,  however,  teach  a  man 
the  uses  of  light  hands  in  the  remotest  degree. 

In  a  sharp  run  to  hounds,  a  horse  must  have 
his  head.  For  high  pace  or  great  exertions  of 
mere  speed,  the  horse  must  be  free.  A  twitch  on 
the  curb  may  check  him  at  a  jump  and  give  him 
a  bad  fall.  As  in  racing,  a  horse  has  to  learn  that 
his  duty  is  to  put  all  his  courage,  speed,  and  jump- 
ing ability  into  his  work,  subject  only  to  discreet 
guidance  and  management.     But  on  the  road,  the 


156  Patroclus  Gaits, 

exact  reverse  should  be  the  rule.  There  is  surely 
less  enjoyment  in  your  Penelope,  who  to-day  can 
only  walk,  or  else  go  a  four-minute  gait  without 
constant  friction,  than  there  will  be  when  she  can 
vary  her  gaits  and  keep  up  any  desired  rate  of 
speed,  from  a  walk  to  a  fifteen-mile  trot  or  a  sharp 
gallop,  at  the  least  intimation  of  your  hands  and 
without  discomfort  to  herself.  I  know  of  nothing 
more  annoying  than  to  be  forced  by  a  riding 
companion  of  whichever  sex  into  a  sharper  gait 
than  either  of  you  wish  to  go,  because  mounted 
on  a  fretting  horse,  who  cannot  be  brought  down 
to  a  comfortable  rate  of  speed  until  all  but  tired 
out. 

In  the  hunting  field  you  expect  to  go  fast  for  a 
short  time,  and  it  is  alone  the  speed  and  the  oc- 
casional obstacle  which  lend  the  zest  to  the  sport. 
But  for  the  ride  on  the  road,  which  to  many  of  us 
is  a  lazy  luxury,  you  need  variety  in  speed  as  well 
as  gaits  for  both  comfort  and  pleasure.  Patro- 
clus here  will  walk,  amble,  rack,  single-foot,  trot, 
canter,  gallop,  and  run,  or  go  from  any  one  into 
any  other  at  will ;  and  every  one  of  these  gaits  is 
unmistakably  distinct,  crisp,  and  well  performed. 
Nor  have  I  ever  found  him  any  the  less  accom- 
plished cross-country,  within  his  limitation  of  con- 
dition and  speed,  for  having  had  a  complete  edu- 
cation for  the  road.  When  I  give  him  his  head 
and  loosen  my  curb,  I  find  him  just  as  free  as  if  I 


1 


i 


The  Amble.  157 

had  never  restrained  him  from  choosing  his  own 
course.  Who  can  deny  that  the  pleasure  to  be 
derived  from  such  a  horse  for  daily  use  does  not 
exceed  that  to  be  got  from  one  who  can  only 
trot  on  the  road,  or  run  and  jump  in  the  field  ? 

Perhaps  Nelly  will  never  learn  so  much,  for  Pa- 
troclus  is  an  exceptionally  intelligent  and  well- 
suppled  horse.  But  she  can  learn  a  good  deal  of 
it.  Patroclus  had  no  idea  of  any  gait  but  a  walk 
or  trot  when  I  bought  him,  nor  did  he  start  with 
any  better  equipment  than  Penelope  ;  and  in  less 
than  a  year  he  knew  all  that  he  knows  now,  and 
much  that  he  has  forgotten.  For  in  the  many 
High  School  airs  which  he  once  could  at  call 
perform,  he  is  altogether  rusty  from  sheer  lack  of 
usage.  But  the  "  moral "  may  remain,  though  the 
fable  may  have  long  since  passed  from  the  mem- 
ory. 

XLVII. 

Some  horses,  who  trot  squarely,  will  go  natu- 
rally from  a  walk  into  a  little  amble  or  pace,  which 
is  sometimes  called  a  "  shuffle."  Often  this  is  an 
agreeable  and  handsome  gait,  but  not  infrequently 
far  from  pleasant.  Often,  too,  it  will  spoil  the 
speed  of  the  walk,  as  the  horse  will  insensibly  fall 
into  it  if  pushed  beyond  his  ease.  A  slower  rate 
at  a  faster  pace  is  always  easier  to  a  horse  than 
the  extreme  of  speed  at  the  lesser  gait.  It  is 
scarcely  worth  while  in  the  East  to  try  to  teach  a 


158  Advantages  of  the  True  Rack. 

horse  to  amble  or  rack  if  he  does  not  naturally 
do  so,  though  it  can  often  be  done. 

Apart  from  the  agreeable  and  useful  side  of  the 
true  rack  as  a  gait,  it  has  not  a  few  further  advan- 
tages. In  coming  from  a  canter  to  a  walk,  a  horse 
may  be  taught  to  slow  up  into  a  rack,  and  then 
drop  to  the  walk,  or  to  stop  in  the  same  manner. 
This  enables  him  to  come  down  without  the  least 
suspicion  of  that  roughness  which  almost  all 
horses  show  when  stopping  a  canter,  particularly 
if  done  quickly ;  unless,  indeed,  they  be  "  poised  " 
before  being  stopped,  as  a  School-ridden  horse  al- 
ways is  from  every  gait.  Moreover,  when  you 
rein  a  cantering  horse  down  within  the  slowest 
limit  of  his  speed  at  that  pace,  as  to  allow  a  team 
to  pass,  or  for  a  similar  purpose,  if  he  knows  how, 
he  will  fall  into  a  rack,  from  which  he  can  with 
much  more  comfort  to  himself  and  you  resume 
the  canter,  than  if  he  had  fallen  into  a  walk.  A 
rack  is  not  an  interruption  of  the  canter,  as  is  a 
jog  or  walk,  but  a  mere  retardando,  as  it  were. 
Still  a  rapid  walk,  a  trot  which  varies  from  six  to 
ten  miles,  and  a  well-collected  canter  suffice  for 
any  of  our  Eastern  needs.  These,  and  the  gal- 
lop, moreover,  are  considered  the  only  permissi- 
ble paces  by  the  School-riders  of  Europe. 

In  our  Southern  States  rackers  are  bred  for, 
and  the  instinct  is  confirmed  by  training.  In 
many  warm  countries,  ambling  is  bred  for.     I  do 


The  Rack  a  Good  School  Gait.  159 

not  think  that  any  horse  with  practically  but  a 
single  gait,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  the  ambler 
or  racker,  comes  up  to  the  requisite  standard  of 
usefulness.  Of  the  two,  I  should  give  my  prefer- 
ence, in  our  latitude,  to  a  mere  trotter,  if  easy, 
who  had  a  busy  walk  beside.  But  in  addition  to 
the  trot  and  canter,  any  comfortable  gait  may 
often  be  a  relief,  and  it  is  eminently  desirable,  if 
the  horse  can  learn  it  without  spoiling  his  proper 
paces.  Such  a  gait  adds  vastly  to  a  horse's  value 
for  the  saddle. 

I  cannot  agree  with  the  School-riders  that  a 
rack  may  not  be  a  good  School  gait.  Patroclus' 
rack,  when  collected,  is  certainly  as  clean  a  per- 
formance as  any  of  his  other  gaits.  From  it  he 
will  drop  back  to  a  walk,  or  fall  into  a  canter  or 
gallop  with  either  lead,  or  into  a  square  trot.  And 
this  more  quickly  than  from  another  gait,  for  if, 
in  a  canter,  the  indication  to  trot  be  given  him 
out  of  season,  he  may  be  obliged  to  complete  one 
more  stride  before  he  can  execute  the  order; 
whereas,  from  a  rack,  which  is  always  a  mid-stride 
for  any  gait,  he  can  instantly  fall  into  the  one 
commanded.  The  indication  and  execution  are 
often  all  but  instantaneous  from  the  rack.  He  is 
really  more  neatly  collected  on  the  rack  proper 
than  on  any  other  gait,  except  the  canter;  and 
though  the  rack  is  unrecognized  as  a  School  pace, 
I  feel  certain  that  I  could  convince  any  master  of 


i6o  The  Natural  Seat. 

the  Haute  Ecole  that  within  proper  limits  it  is  an 
addition,  not  a  loss,  to  the  education  of  a  horse. 
What  School-riders  mean  when  they  exclude  the 
rack  from  School  paces  is  that  a  racker  has  rarely 
any  other  gait ;  and  in  the  usual  loose-jointed  rack 
of  the  South  a  horse  is  certainly  not  well  enough 
poised  for  use  in  School  performances. 

XLVIII. 

To  come  back  to  our  original  text,  then,  it  is 
quite  impossible  to  say,  as  a  whole,  what  seat  is 
intrinsically  the  best,  or  what  nation  furnishes  the 
best  of  riders.  It  appears  to  me  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  natural  seat.  Such  a  seat  is 
clearly  shown  on  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon,  and 
in  a  less  artistic  way  may  be  seen  among  any 
horsemen  riding  without  stirrups.  Although  Xen- 
ophon  has  been  misunderstood  in  this  particular, 
I  feel  convinced  that  his  description  calls  for  what 
I  understand  to  be  the  natural  seat.  And  the 
best  military  riders  make  the  nearest  approach  to 
this  position.  By  military  seat  I  by  no  means  in- 
tend to  convey  the  idea  of  a  straight  leg,  forked 
radish  style.  That  is  not  the  military  seat  proper. 
It  is  only  in  spite  of  such  a  seat,  or  in  spite  of 
the  short  stirrup  of  the  East,  and  because  they 
are  always  in  the  saddle,  that  the  Mexican  gaucho 
and  the  Arab  of  the  desert  both  ride  as  magnifi- 
cently as  they  do.    The  best  military  rider  should, 


Extreme  Length  of  Stirrups.  i6i 

and  does,  carry  the  leg  as  it  naturally  falls  when 
sitting  on  his  breech,  not  his  crotch,  on  the  bare 
back  of  a  horse.  The  steeple-chaser,  or  cross- 
country rider,  for  perfectly  satisfactory  reasons, 
has  a  much  shorter  stirrup.  But  on  the  road, 
he  should,  and  generally  does,  come  back  more 
nearly  to  the  natural  length.  The  main  advan- 
tage in  the  very  long  stirrup  which  obtains  among 
so  many  peoples  lies  in  the  possibility  of  sitting 
close  on  a  trot  with  greater  ease,  and  of  using 
the  lasso  or  whip,  or  in  having  a  free  hand  for 
their  sundry  sports  or  duties.  And  a  high  pom- 
mel and  cantle  are  advantageous  in  helping  the 
rider  preserve  his  seat  when  he  might  be  dragged 
—  not  thrown  —  from  it  in  some  of  his  peculiar 
experiences.  But  the  perfectly  straight  leg  al- 
ways bears  a  suggestion  of  the  parting  advice  of 
the  groom  to  a  Sunday  rider  just  leaving  the  sta- 
ble :  "  Look  straight  between  his  hears,  sir,  and 
keep  your  balance,  and  you  cant  come  hoff."  On 
the  other  hand,  the  advantages  of  an  extremely 
short  stirrup,  such  as  prevails  in  the  Orient,  are 
very  difficult  to  be  understood  at  all. 

The  military  riders  of  every  civilized  country, 
where  enlistments  are  long  enough,  and  where 
proper  care  is  given  to  the  instruction  in  eques- 
trianism, are  excellent.  It  would  be  curious  in- 
deed if  men  who  devote  their  lives  to  the  art 
should  not  be  so.     Some  of  our  old  army  cavalry 


1 62  The  "  One-Armed  Devil." 

officers  rode  gloriously.  Our  volunteer  cavalry, 
late  in  the  war,  rode  strongly,  though  not  always 
handsomely.  During  the  past  twenty  years  the 
severe  work  and  long  marches  of  our  regular 
mounted  troops  have  militated  greatly  against 
equestrianism  as  an  art.  Some  of  the  most  ac- 
complished riders  I  have  ever  known  have  been  in 
the  United  States  Army.  Philip  Kearny,  that 
preux  chevalier,  the  "  one-armed  devil,"  was  in 
every  sense  a  superb  rider.  I  have  seen  him  with 
his  cap  in  one  hand,  his  empty  sleeve  blowing 
outward  with  his  speed,  and  his  sword  dangling 
from  his  wrist,  ride  over  a  Virginia  snake  fence 
such  as  most  of  us  would  want  to  knock  at  least 
the  top  rail  off. 

"  How  he  strode  his  brown  steed  !     How  we  saw  his  blade 
brighten 
In  the  one  hand  still  left,  —  and  the  reins  in  his  teeth  ! 
He  laughed  like  a  boy  when  the  holidays  heighten, 
But  a  soldier's  glance  shot  from  his  visor  beneath ! " 

And  a  man  who  could  not  follow  him  did  not  long 
remain  upon  his  staff. 

One  of  my  lost  opportunities  occurred  for  such 
a  reason  during  Pope's  campaign,  when  General 
Kearny,  who  had  dispatched  right  and  left  all  his 
aides,  beckoned  to  me  at  dusk  one  evening  to 
ride  out  and  draw  the  fire  of  some  of  the  enemy's 
troops  supposed  to  be  on  the  edge  of  a  wood, 
some  half  a  mile  or  so  distant.     My  own  horse 


Army  Steeple-Chases,  163 

had  been  shot,  and  my  equipments  lost.  I  had 
captured  an  old  farm-horse  without  a  saddle,  and 
had  extemporized  a  rope  bridle.  The  course  lay 
athwart  some  open  fields,  with  a  number  of  fences 
still  standing.  My  desire  to  do  this  work  stood 
in  inverse  ratio  to  my  steed's  ability  to  second  me. 
And  no  sooner  had  I  ridden  up  and  touched  my 
cap  for  orders,  than  the  general  had  gauged  the 
poverty  of  my  beast  and  rig,  and  speedily  selected 
a  better  mounted  messenger. 

During  the  war,  among  the  volunteer  troops, 
we  used  in  some  of  the  divisions  to  organize 
steeple-chases  during  a  long  term  of  inactive  op- 
erations, and  good  ones  we  frequently  had ;  the 
old  style  steeple-chase  over  an  unknown  course 
being  the  fashion,  and  the  steeple  generally  a 
prominent  tree,  at  a  distance  of  a  couple  of  miles. 
Often  the  course  was  round  a  less  distant  tree 
and  back  again.  Not  a  few  good  riders  and 
horses  were  forthcoming  to  enter  for  such  an 
event,  and  I  have  rarely  seen  better  riding  than 
there.  An  unknown  course  over  Virginia  fences, 
and  through  patches  of  Virginia  second  growth, 
especially  after  heavy  rains,  when  mere  gutters 
became  rivers  for  a  number  of  hours,  and  the 
ground  was  much  like  hasty-pudding,  could  be 
a  test  to  try  the  best  of  horses  and  horsemen. 

These  are  but  isolated  examples,  instanced  only 
as  showing  that  every  species  of  hard  saddle  work 


164  The  Best  Rider. 

is  very  naturally  apt  to  be  cultivated  among  men 
whose  duty  keeps  them  in  the  saddle  the  better 
part  of  every  day.  And  it  is  well  known  that 
English  army  officers  are  among  the  very  best 
cross-country  riders,  and  not  a  few  have  occu- 
pied the  dignity  of  M.  F.  H.,  and  done  it  credit. 
Surely  such  a  rider,  trained  in  the  niceties  of  the 
manege^  as  well  as  experienced  in' riding  to  hounds, 
may  fitly  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  equestrian 
roll  of  honor. 

After  excluding  professionals,  then  (and  excep- 
tional individuals),  I  am  afraid  I  must  brave  crit- 
icism in  calling  the  officers  of  civilized  mounted 
troops  distinctly  the  best  class  of  riders.  Next 
—  perhaps  you  will  say  in  the  same  category  — 
comes  that  class  in  England  which  makes  its  one 
pleasure  the  prosecution  of  the  most  splendid  of 
all  sports,  fox-hunting,  and  has  reached  perfection 
in  the  art.  Excluding  all  riders  who  do  not  be- 
long to  the  classes  available  for  our  imitation, 
there  comes  next,  longo  intervallo^  the  civilian 
rider  everywhere. 

It  is  impossible  to  draw  any  comparison  be- 
tween the  above  classes  and  even  our  own  cow- 
boys, whose  peculiar  duties  and  untamed  mus- 
tangs prescribe  their  long  leathers  and  horned 
pommel.  Nor  can  the  equatorial  style  be  fairly 
contrasted   with  what   meets   the    wants   of   the 


Southern  Equestriennes.  165 

denizens  of  the  civilized  cities  of  the  temperate 
zone. 

In  this  country,  the  Southerner  is  the  most 
constantly  in  the  saddle,  and  a  good  rider  in  the 
sunny  South  is  a  thoroughly  good  rider.  But  I 
have  often  wondered  at  the  number  of  poor  ones 
it  is  possible  to  find  in  localities  where  everybody 
moves  about  in  the  saddle.  Many  men  there, 
who  ride  all  the  time,  seem  to  have  acquired  the 
trick  of  breaking  every  commandment  in  the  dec- 
alogue of  equitation.  Using  horses  as  a  mere 
means  of  transportation  seems  sometimes  to  re- 
duce the  steed  to  a  simple  beast  of  burden,  and 
equestrianism  to  the  bald  ability  to  sit  in  the  sad- 
dle as  you  would  in  an  ox-cart. 

I  think  I  have  seen  more  graceful  equestri- 
ennes in  the  South  than  anywhere  else,  —  than 
even  in  England.  But  I  must  admit  that  all 
women  who  ride  well  possess  such  attractions  for 
me  as  perhaps  to  warp  my  judgment  in  endeav- 
oring to  draw  comparisons.  Who  but  a  Paris 
could  have  awarded  the  apple  ? 

Although  the  Southern  woman  refuses  to  ride 
the  trot,  she  has  a  proper  substitute  for  it,  and  her 
seat  is  generally  admirable.  Though  I  greatly 
admire  a  square  trot  well  ridden  in  a  side-saddle, 
it  is  really  the  rise  on  this  gait  which  makes  so 
many  crooked  female  riders  among  ourselves  and 
our  British  cousins.    This  ought  not  to  be  so,  but 


1 66  Our  Yankee  Women. 

ladies  are  apt  to  resent  too  much  severity  in  in- 
struction, and  without  strict  obedience  to  her 
master,  a  lady  never  learns  to  ride  gracefully  and 
stoutly.  In  the  South,  ladies  ride  habitually,  and 
moreover  a  rack,  single-foot,  and  canter  are  not 
only  graceful,  but  straight-sitting  paces  for  a 
woman. 

It  is  not  to-day  risking  much,  however,  to 
prophesy  that  within  the  lapse  of  little  time  our 
Eastern  cities  will  boast  as  many  clever  Amazons 
as  are  to  be  found  in  the  South.  Who  can  con- 
tend that  our  Yankee  women  have  not  the  intel- 
ligence, courage,  vigor,  and  grace  to  rank  with 
the  riders  of  any  clime } 

XLIX. 

And  now,  Master  Tom,  let  me  again  impress 
upon  you  that  I  have  been  giving  you  only  the 
most  rudimentary  idea  of  how  to  train  your  mare. 
By  no  means  expect  that  Nelly  will  ever  execute 
the  traverse,  pirouette,  Spanish  trot,  or  piaffer, 
let  alone  trot  or  gallop  backwards,  as  these  airs 
should  be  performed,  by  any  such  superficial  ed- 
ucation. But  you  will  certainly  find  her  more 
agreeable,  more  tractable,  safer,  and  easier,  and 
you  will  have  both  enjoyed  the  schooling.  And 
I  feel  assured  that  having  gone  so  far  you  will 
not  stop  short  of  the  next  step,  the  study  and 
practice  of  the  art  in  its  true  refinements.    I  may, 


Vale!  167 

moreover,  safely  assume  that  after  you  have  once 
owned  a  School-trained  horse,  you  will  never 
again  be  content  with  what  might  be  appropri- 
ately termed  the  "  perfect  saddle  horse  "  of  com- 
merce. 

Our  roads  part  here,  —  yours  towards  the  studi- 
ous shades  of  Harvard,  mine  towards  the  rolling 
uplands  of  Chestnut  Hill.     Fare  you  well ! 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

I.  Patroclus  and  I 19 

II.  Saddles  and  Seats 22 

III.  Patroclus  on  a  Rack 28 

IV.  The  Rack  and  Single-Foot         ....  29 
V.  Patroclus  Trotting 32 

VI.  Thoroughbred  or  Half-Bred       ....  33 

VII.  The  Saddle  Mania 35 

VIII.  Park-Riding 37 

IX.  A  Fine  Horse  not  necessarily  a  Good  Hack         .  39 

X.  Soldiers  have  Stout  Seats 41 

XI.  A  Gate  and  a  Brook 44 

XII.  The  Old  Trooper 48 

XIII.  Instruction  in  Riding 49 

XIV.  Chilly  Fox-Hunting 51 

XV.  Is  Soldier  or  Fox-Hunter  the  Better  Rider  ?          .  55 

XVI.  The  School-Rider 56 

XVII.  Patroclus  happy 59 

XVIII.  Photography  versus  Art 61 

XIX.  A  One-Man  Horse 69 

XX.  Baucher's  Favorite  Saddle  Horse       ...  70 

XXI.  Patroclus  sniffs  a  Friend 73 

XXII.  Riding-Schools  and  School-Riding     ...  74 

XXIII.  Is  Schooling  of  Value  ? id 

XXIV.  Manuals  of  Training 82 

XXV.  Result  of  Training 83 

XXVI.  Qualities  of  the  Horse  • 86 

XXVII.  Dress,  Saddles,  and  Bridles           ....  87 

XXVIII.  Mounting 89 


170 


Contents. 


PAGE 


XXIX.  How  to  hold  the  Reins 92 

XXX.  How  to  begin  Training 94 

XXXI.  Penelope's  Unrestrained  Courage  .        .        -97 

XXXII.  Hints  before  beginning  to  train  a  Horse   .         .         98 

XXXIII.  Guiding  by  the  Neck 104 

XXXIV.  What  an  Arched  Neck  means    ....       109 
XXXV.  Flexions  of  the  Neck 113 

XXXVI.  Flexions  of  tlie  Croup 116 

XXXVII.  The  Canter 121 

XXXVIII.  Leading  with  either  Shoulder     .         .         .        .125 

XXXIX.  The  Horse's  Natural  Lead 131 

XL.  The  Best  Way  to  teach  the  Lead       ...       135 

XLI.  Change  of  Lead  in  Motion 138 

XLII.  Suggestions 141 

XLIII.  How  to  begin  Jumping 143 

XLIV.  The  Reins  in  the  Jump 148 

XLV.  Odds  and  Ends  of  Leaping 152 

XLVI.  Hunting  and  Road-Riding         .         .        .        •       iS5 

XLVII.  Advantages  of  True  Rack 157 

XLVIII.  Who  is  the  Best  Rider? 160 

XLIX.  Vale!      . 166 


/ 


^$^^^bster  Family  Library  of  Veterinary  MeJ@toiit 

(OysMiings  School  of  Veterinary  U&dk^mi  ^ 

Tufts  University 

too  Westboro  Road 


PATROCLUS  AND  PENELOPE 


^   CH^T  IN    THE  SADDLE 


BY 

THEODORE  AYRAULT  DODGE 

BREVET  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL   UNITED  STATES  ARMY  (RETIRED  LISt)  ;  AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  CAMPAIGN 
OF   CHANCELLORSVILLE,"    "a    bird's-eye   view   of   the   civil   war,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH   FOURTEEN    PHOTOTYPES  OF 
THE   HORSE   IN   MOTION 


Since  —  ^5  it  has  been  our  fortune  to  he  long  engaged  about 
horses  —  -xe  consider  that  we  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of  horse- 
manship, we  desire  also  to  intimate  to  the  j>ounger  part  of  our 
friends  how  we  think  that  they  majr  bestow  their  attention  on  horses 
to  the  best  advantage.  Xenophon  on  Horsemanship 


HOUGHTON,    MIFFLIN   AND    COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 


PATROCLUS   AND   PENELOPE: 

A  Chat  in  the  Saddle.  By  Theodore  Ayrault  Dodge,  Brevet  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, U.  S.  A.  (Retired  List),  author  of  "  The  Campaign 
of  Chancellorsville,"  "A  Bird's-Eye  View  of  the  Civil  War,"  etc. 
Illustrated  with  fourteen  phototypes  of  the  Horse  in  motion.  In 
one  volume,  octavo,  gilt  top,  half  roan,  $3.00. 

Contents  :  Patroclus  and  I ;  Saddles  and  Seats  ;  Patroclus  on  a  Rack  ; 
The  Rack  and  Single-Foot;  Patroclus  Trotting;  Thoroughbred  or  Half- 
Bred  ;  The  Saddle  Mania  ;  Park-Riding  ;  A  Fine  Horse  not  necessarily  a 
Good  Hack ;  Soldiers  have  Stout  Seats  ;  A  Gate  and  a  Brook  ;  The  Old 
Trooper;  Instruction  in  Riding;  Chilly  Fox-Hunting ;  Is  Soldier  or  Fox- 
Hunter  the  Better  Rider?  The  School-Rider;  Patroclus  Happy;  Photog- 
raphy versus  Art;  A  One-Man  Horse;  Baucher's  Favorite  Saddle  Horse; 
Patroclus  sniffs  a  Friend ;  Riding-Schools  and  School-Riding ;  Is  School- 
ing of  Value  ?  Manuals  of  Training  ;  Result  of  Training ;  Qualities  of  the 
Horse ;  Dress,  Saddles,  and  Bridles  ;  Mounting ;  How  to  hold  the  Reins  ; 
How  to  begin  Training  ;  Penelope's  Unrestrained  Courage  ;  Hints  before 
beginning  to  train  a  Horse  ;  Guiding  by  the  Neck  ;  What  an  Arched  Neck 
means ;  Flexions  of  the  Neck  ;  Flexions  of  the  Croup  ;  The  Canter ;  Lead- 
ing with  either  Shoulder;  The  Horse's  Natural  Lead;  The  Best  Way  to 
teach  the  Lead;  Change  of  Lead  in  Motion;  Suggestions;  How  to  begin 
Jumping;  The  Reins  in  the  Jump ;  Odds  and  Ends  of  Leaping;  Hunting 
and  Road-Riding;  Advantages  of  True  Rack;  Who  is  the  Best  Rider? 
Vale  ! 

This  book  is  written  from  an  experience  extending  over  thirty  jyears,  —  in  the 
English  hunting  field,  the  Prussian  armj>,  the  plains  of  the  IVest,  active  service 
during  the  Civil  IVar,  and  dailji  riding  everywhere.  The  author  has  studied 
equestrianism  as  an  art,  and,  although  believing  in  the  Haute  Ecole  of  Baucher, 
enjoys  with  equal  ^est  a  ride  to  hounds  or  a  gallop  on  the  western  prairies. 

The  experienced  equestrian  will  be  delighted  by  the  author's  breep'  talk  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject.  The  young  horseman  who  may  have  purchased 
a  colt  just  broken  to  harness  can  by  the  use  of  its  hints  make  him  as  clever  as 
Patroclus.  Even  the  man  who  rides  but  a  do^en  times  a  year  will  be  interested 
in  the  book,  while  the  every-day  reader  will  be  charmed  by  its  simplicity,  geniality, 
and  heartiness. 


NOTICES    OF   THE   PRESS. 

The  reader  must  feel  that  he  is  in  distinctively  good  company.  It 
is  a  running  commentary  on  saddle-riding,  and  gives  the  reader  much 
the  same  advantages  he  would  have  from  a  season's  riding  in  company 
with  a  gentleman  who  has  ridden  in  all  countries,  on  all  sorts  of  ani- 
mals, and  under  all  sorts  of  conditions.  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  attract- 
ive of  recent  books.  —  Boston  Advertiser. 


We  all  love  Isaak  Walton's  talks  about  fish  or  John  Burroughs's  es- 
says on  birds;  in  the  same  spirit  is  this  delightful  book  of  Col.  Dodge's. 
...  It  is  a  familiar  chat  of  a  man  who  knows  all  about  horsemanship 
and  can  tell  you  how  to  mount  or  ride,  what  saddle  or  bridle  to  use, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  touch  upon  life  in  the  saddle  with  words  which 
will  make  your  blood  tingle.  —  Saturday  Evening  Gazette  (Boston). 

It  consists  of  a  series  of  essay-like  chapters  written  in  a  lively, 
chatty,  conversational  manner  which  makes  it  charming  reading.  The 
advice  is  full  of  hints  and  suggestions  to  the  experienced  horseman  as 
well  as  of  instructions  of  the  utmost  value  to  the  new  initiate  in  the 
equestrian  art.  We  are  in  sympathy  with  the  author  before  the  first 
page  is  turned.  —  Yak  Literary  Magazine  (New  Haven). 

The  volume  consists  of  a  most  charming  series  of  chats  about  horses 
and  horsemanship  by  a  man  who  is  thoroughly  in  the  spirit  of  his  sub- 
ject, and  who  is  not  a  hidebound  partisan  of  any  school  of  equestrian- 
ism, holding  to  the  catholic  belief  that  there  are  good  riders  in  every 
land  and  in  tvexy  species  of  saddle.  —  Army  and  Navv  journal  (New 
York). 

It  abounds  in  excellent  suggestions,  the  fruit  of  sound  experience, 
accurate  observations,  and  good  common  sense.  It  is  an  excellent 
book  for  the  amateur.  Withal  it  is  told  in  a  pleasant,  easy  way,  as  if 
it  had  been  written  in  the  saddle  instead  of  at  the  desk.  —  Christian 
Register  (Boston), 

Col.  Dodge  combines  to  an  altogether  uncommon  degree  the  merit 
of  a  close  acquaintance  with  and  real  enthusiasm  in  his  subject,  and 
the  quality  of  a  trained  literarian.  The  aspiring  equestrian  will  gain 
instruction  from  the  lips  of  a  masterly  instructor.  —  Christia?i  Union 
(New  York). 

Col.  Dodge  has  given  the  beginner  in  the  art  of  horsemanship  the 
best  possible  introduction  to  his  pleasurable  task.  The  author  has 
had  a  much  wider  store  of  practical  experience  in  horsemanship  than 
his  predecessors  in  this  field  of  instruction.  — New  York  Evening  Post. 

The  practical  horseman  cannot  fail  to  admire  the  firm,  easy  seat 
which  the  beginner  will  do  well  to  copy.  "  Patroclus  "  is  ably  de- 
scribed, and,  if  up  to  what  is  said  of  him,  must  be  a  gem  of  the  first 
water.  —  Neiv  York  Times. 

One  who  has  had  some  experience  in  the  saddle  will  derive  from  it 
the  same  sort  of  profit  and  entertainment  which  might  be  expected 
from  an  accomplished,  observant,  clear-headed,  and  good-natured  com- 
panion on  the  road.  —  New  York  Tribune. 

Col.  Dodge  rode  his  horse  at  the  time  the  photographs  were  taken, 
and  his  skill  in  horsemanship  is  exhibited  by  a  seat  that  was  undis- 
turbed by  even  the  most  violent  exertions  of  his  steed.  — Sporting  and 
Dramatic  News  (London). 


His  horse  "Patroclus"  is  his  hero,  his  mare  "Penelope  "  his  hero- 
ine, and  the  adventures  undertaken  with  the  aid  of  these  two  good 
animals  make  a  story  which  will  fire  the  blood  of  every  reader. — 
Brooklyn  Union. 

Col.  Dodge  has  succeeded  in  giving  much  excellent  advice  on  the 
management  of  the  horse,  while  at  the  same  time  holding  the  reader's 
attention  by  the  interest  of  the  narrative.  —  Herald-Crimson  (Cam- 
bridge). 

The  beginner  who  will  follow  the  excellent  and  simple  rules  of 
training  given  by  our  author  will  be  sure  to  win  success  in  the  art  and 
a  great  deal  of  pleasure  by  the  way.  —  The  Nation  (New.  York). 

Considerable  as  is  the  space  allotted  to  jumping,  it  is  not  too  great 
in  view  of  the  popularity  of  cross-country  riding.  We  find  in  it  noth- 
ing to  criticise.  — Philadelphia  Record. 

Written  in  a  pleasant,  sympathetic  vein  and  in  almost  conversational 
form,  it  has  an  abundance  of  keen  hints  and  graceful  thoughts  on 
horseback  riding  as  an  art.  —  Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette. 

He  covers  the  whole  ground  of  good  horsemanship,  not  as  an  ama- 
teur or  theorist,  but  as  one  who  knows  all  the  facts  with  which  he 
deals.  —  San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

Col.  Dodge  is  an  expert  in  all  the  finesse  and  paraphernalia  of  horses 
and  horseback-riding.  .  .  .  The  advice  is  sound  and  simple  and  very 
direct.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

The  chapters  on  the  training  of  horse  and  rider  are  full  of  sound  in- 
formation, clearly  stated,  and  practical  to  the  last.  —  yournal  of  Mili- 
tary Service  Institution  (New  York). 

A  lover  of  horses  will  find  in  this  volume  a  book  which  will  give 
him  unlimited  pleasure.  —  The  Book-Buyer  (New  York). 

This  book  will  be  given  an  enthusiastic  welcome  by  all  lovers  of 
equestrianism.  —  Chicago  Journal. 

The  hearty  animal  spirits  which  gallop  through  its  pages  are  catch- 
ing. —  Netv  York  Mail  and  Express. 

Col.  Dodge  is  a  charming  teacher.  —  Boston  Herald. 


HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY, 

Publishers, 

Boston  and  New  York. 


!♦■  r  \ 


